System for face authentication and method for face authentication

ABSTRACT

Provided is a system for face authentication which can operate separately for individual providers of face authentication service in a stable and efficient manner, which system includes: face authentication machines  1 ; an administrator terminal  2 ; a face management server  5  for storing registered users&#39; face image data; and face matching servers  6  each configured to generate face feature amount data of a person to be verified from image data acquired from the camera of a face authentication machine  1 , and perform a matching operation by comparing the face feature amount data of the person with that of registered users, wherein, prior to face authentication, data of associations between face authentication machines  1  and face matching servers  6  entered by an administrator is transmitted from the administrator terminal  2  to the face management server  5.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/424,987,filed Jul. 22, 2021, which is a National Stage Entry of InternationalPatent Application No. PCT/JP2019/042002, filed Oct. 25, 2019, whichclaims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-017271, filedFeb. 1, 2019. The entire disclosure of each of the above-identifieddocuments, including the specification, drawings, and claims, isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a system for face authentication and amethod for face authentication used for performing a face authenticationprocess based on image data of a person to be verified.

BACKGROUND ART

Known face authentication technologies include a face authenticationsystem which includes a first device including at least an extractor forextracting a registrant's face feature amount, a storage for storingregistrants' feature amount data, and a matcher for performing a facefeature amount matching operation; and a second device including astorage for storing face image data of registrants, the second devicebeing provided at a location with a higher-security level than where thefirst device is provided, wherein, when face image data of registrantsis necessary, the first device creates a data communication channelbetween the first and second devices, acquires registrants' face imagedata from the second device through the data communication channel, anduses the acquired data only on a memory region for data processingwithout storing it in any non-volatile storage, whereby, even when thefirst device of the face authentication system is stolen or attacked,the face image data of registrants can remain under protection as safelyas possible (Patent Document 1).

PRIOR ART DOCUMENT(S) Patent Document(s)

-   Patent Document 1: JP5353147B

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Task to be Accomplished by the Invention

The above-described prior art document only teaches configurations inwhich a face authentication machine(s) is provided in physical space,and includes an image pickup device and a storage for storing facefeature amount data of all the registrants, and performs a face matchingoperation, while face image data of the registrants is managed in cyberspace (e.g., in an image server). Thus, the above-described prior artdocument fails to teach or suggest any configuration in which anauthentication server is used; that is, both face feature amount dataand face image data are stored in a cloud server or any other server,thereby enabling a face authentication system to operate separately forindividual providers of face authentication service in a stable andefficient manner.

The present invention was made in view of such a problem of the priorart, and has a primary object to provide a system for faceauthentication and a method for face authentication used by the system,which enable the system to operate separately for individual providersof face authentication service in a stable and efficient manner MEANS TOACCOMPLISH THE TASK

An aspect of the present invention provides a system for faceauthentication used for performing a face authentication process basedon image data of a person to be verified, comprising: a plurality offace authentication machines; a server device connected to the pluralityof face authentication machines via a network; and a terminal deviceconnected to the server device via the network, wherein each faceauthentication machine comprises a camera for shooting the person to beverified, wherein the server device comprises: a face image manager forstoring and accumulating face image data of pre-registered users; and aplurality of face image matchers, each face image matcher beingconfigured to generate face feature amount data of the person to beverified from image data shot by the camera of a face authenticationmachine, and perform a matching operation between the face featureamount data of the person to be verified and face feature amount data ofthe pre-registered users generated from the face image data thereof,wherein, in response to an administrator's entry operation on theterminal device, the server device is configured to acquire associationinformation on associations between the plurality of face authenticationmachines and the plurality of face image matchers, and wherein each faceauthentication machine is configured to identify at least one face imagematcher to which the face authentication machine is to make a requestfor performing the matching operation based on the associationinformation acquired from the server device, and then make the requestfor performing the matching operation to the identified face imagematchers.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a method for faceauthentication used for performing a face authentication process basedon image data of a person to be verified, wherein the method isperformed by a system for face authentication which comprises aplurality of face authentication machines; a server device connected tothe plurality of face authentication machines via a network, the serverdevice comprising a face image manager and a plurality of face imagematchers; and a terminal device connected to the server device via thenetwork, the method comprising: upon registration of users, the faceimage manager storing and accumulating face image data of the users; andperforming the face authentication process, the performing comprising: aface authentication machine shooting the person to be verified by itscamera to generate image data of the person to be verified; and then theplurality of face image matchers generating face feature amount data ofthe person to be verified from image data shot by the camera, andperforming a matching operation between the face feature amount data ofthe person to be verified and face feature amount data of the registeredusers generated from the face image data thereof, wherein, prior toperforming the face authentication process, in response to anadministrator's entry operation on the terminal device, the terminaldevice transmits association information on associations between theplurality of face authentication machines and the plurality of faceimage matchers to the server device.

Effect of the Invention

According to the present invention, for each face authenticationmachine, a corresponding face image matcher(s) in a server deviceperforms a matching operation (an operation for face data comparison formatching), which generally incurs high computational load on aprocessing device. This configuration reduces the computational load ona face authentication machine and eliminates the need for faceauthentication machines to store data requiring privacy protection,thereby enabling a system for face authentication to operate separatelyfor individual providers of face authentication service in a stable andsufficient manner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a general configuration of a faceauthentication system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of a concept of amatching group;

FIGS. 3A-C are explanatory diagrams showing outlines of face matchinginquiry operations performed by a face authentication machine 1;

FIGS. 4A-C are explanatory diagrams showing outlines of concepts of aface matching unit;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a faceauthentication machine 1;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of anadministrator terminal 2;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a facemanagement server 5;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a facematching server 6;

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of operations forface image extraction performed by a face authentication machine 1;

FIGS. 10A-B are explanatory diagrams showing outlines of a face cut-outoperation performed by a face authentication machine 1;

FIGS. 11A-D are explanatory diagrams showing outlines of the facecut-out operation performed by a face authentication machine 1;

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of operations forface image extraction;

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of face matchinginquiry operations using matching group information;

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing a login screen displayed on anadministrator terminal 2;

FIGS. 15A-C are explanatory diagrams showing screens displayed on theadministrator terminal 2 when data of a matching group is to beregistered, viewed, and updated;

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing a screen displayed on theadministrator terminal 2 when data of a matching group is to be deleted;

FIGS. 17A-C are sequence diagrams showing operation procedures ofoperations for registering, viewing, and updating data of a matchinggroup;

FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of operations forregistering, viewing, and updating data of a matching group;

FIG. 19 is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedure ofoperations for deleting data of a matching group;

FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of operations fordeleting data of a matching group;

FIG. 21 is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedure ofoperations for collectively registering data of matching groups;

FIGS. 22A-B are explanatory diagrams showing screens displayed on theadministrator terminal 2 when associations between face authenticationmachines 1 and matching groups are to be registered, viewed, andupdated;

FIG. 23 is an explanatory diagram showing a screen displayed on theadministrator terminal 2 when associations between face authenticationmachines 1 and matching groups are to be deleted;

FIG. 24 is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedure ofoperations for registering an association between a face authenticationmachine 1 and a matching group;

FIG. 25 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of the operationsfor registering an association between a face authentication machine 1and a matching group;

FIG. 26 is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedure ofoperations for viewing associations between face authentication machines1 and matching groups;

FIG. 27 is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedure ofoperations for updating associations between face authenticationmachines 1 and matching groups;

FIG. 28 is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedure ofoperations for deleting associations between face authenticationmachines 1 and matching groups;

FIGS. 29A-B are explanatory diagrams showing screens displayed on theadministrator terminal 2 when associations between face matching servers6 and matching groups is to be registered and viewed;

FIG. 30 is an explanatory diagram showing a screen displayed on theadministrator terminal 2 when associations between face matching servers6 and matching groups are to be deleted;

FIG. 31 is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedure ofoperations for registering an association between a face matching server6 and a matching group;

FIG. 32 is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedure ofoperations for viewing associations between face matching servers 6 andmatching groups;

FIG. 33 is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedure ofoperations for deleting associations between face matching servers 6 andmatching groups;

FIG. 34 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of the operationsfor deleting associations between face matching servers 6 and matchinggroups;

FIGS. 35A-B are explanatory diagrams showing screens displayed on theadministrator terminal 2 when data of a user is to be registered,viewed, updated, and deleted;

FIG. 36 is an explanatory diagram showing a screen displayed on theadministrator terminal 2 when data of a user is to be registered,viewed, updated, and deleted;

FIG. 37 is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedure ofoperations for registering data of a user;

FIG. 38 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of the operationsfor registering data of a user;

FIG. 39 is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedure ofoperations for collectively registering data of users;

FIG. 40 is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedure ofoperations for viewing data of users;

FIG. 41 is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedure ofoperations for updating data of a user;

FIG. 42 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of the operationsfor updating data of a user;

FIG. 43 is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedure ofoperations for deleting data of a user;

FIG. 44 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of the operationsof deleting data of a user;

FIG. 45 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of operations forextracting a face image;

FIG. 46 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of operations forchecking image quality;

FIG. 47 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of operations forcalculating a face feature amount;

FIG. 48 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of operations forregistering a face feature amount (face feature amount based);

FIG. 49 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of operations forregistering a face feature amount (image based);

FIG. 50 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of operations fordeleting a face feature amount;

FIG. 51 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of operations forregistering a face (face data);

FIG. 52 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of operations forsynchronizing face information;

FIGS. 53A-B are explanatory diagrams showing outlines of operations forcopying face feature amount data;

FIG. 54 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of operations forface authentication;

FIG. 55 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of operations forviewing authentication logs;

FIG. 56 is an explanatory diagram showing an authentication log viewscreen displayed on an administrator terminal 2;

FIG. 57 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of dynamic datalinking from a face authentication machine to external applications;

FIG. 58 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of monitoring theoperation statuses of the present system;

FIGS. 59A-B are explanatory diagrams showing a backup screen and arestoration screen displayed on the administrator terminal 2; and

FIG. 60 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of operations forface image extraction according to a variation of the presentembodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

A first aspect of the present invention made to achieve theabove-described object is a system for face authentication used forperforming a face authentication process based on image data of a personto be verified, comprising: a plurality of face authentication machines;a server device connected to the plurality of face authenticationmachines via a network; and a terminal device connected to the serverdevice via the network, wherein each face authentication machinecomprises a camera for shooting the person to be verified, wherein theserver device comprises: a face image manager for storing andaccumulating face image data of pre-registered users; and a plurality offace image matchers, each face image matcher being configured togenerate face feature amount data of the person to be verified fromimage data shot by the camera of a face authentication machine, andperform a matching operation between the face feature amount data of theperson to be verified and face feature amount data of the pre-registeredusers generated from the face image data thereof, wherein, in responseto an administrator's entry operation on the terminal device, the serverdevice is configured to acquire association information on associationsbetween the plurality of face authentication machines and the pluralityof face image matchers, and wherein each face authentication machine isconfigured to identify at least one face image matcher to which the faceauthentication machine is to make a request for performing the matchingoperation based on the association information acquired from the serverdevice, and then make the request for performing the matching operationto the identified face image matchers.

In this configuration, for each face authentication machine, acorresponding face image matcher(s) in a server device performs amatching operation (an operation for face data comparison for matching),which generally incurs high computational load on a processing device.This configuration reduces the computational load on a faceauthentication machine and eliminates the need for face authenticationmachines to store data requiring privacy protection, thereby enabling asystem for face authentication to operate separately for individualproviders of face authentication service in a stable and sufficientmanner.

A second aspect of the present invention is the system of the firstaspect, wherein each server device is provided for a correspondingprovider of face authentication service.

This configuration enables two or more providers of face authenticationservice to utilize the face authentication system.

A third aspect of the present invention is the system of the firstaspect, wherein the server device is configured to provide a networkaddress of a face image matcher to the face authentication machines asthe association information.

This configuration enables a face authentication machine to identify aface image matcher(s) to which the face authentication machine is tomake a request for face matching, and request the identified face imagematcher(s) to perform a matching operation.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is a method for faceauthentication used for performing a face authentication process basedon image data of a person to be verified, wherein the method isperformed by a system for face authentication which comprises aplurality of face authentication machines; a server device connected tothe plurality of face authentication machines via a network, the serverdevice comprising a face image manager and a plurality of face imagematchers; and a terminal device connected to the server device via thenetwork, the method comprising: upon registration of users, the faceimage manager storing and accumulating face image data of the users; andperforming the face authentication process, the performing comprising: aface authentication machine shooting the person to be verified by itscamera to generate image data of the person to be verified; and then theplurality of face image matchers generating face feature amount data ofthe person to be verified from image data shot by the camera, andperforming a matching operation between the face feature amount data ofthe person to be verified and face feature amount data of the registeredusers generated from the face image data thereof, wherein, prior toperforming the face authentication process, in response to anadministrator's entry operation on the terminal device, the terminaldevice transmits association information on associations between theplurality of face authentication machines and the plurality of faceimage matchers to the server device.

This method enables the face authentication system to operate separatelyfor individual providers of face authentication service in a stable andsufficient manner, in the same manner as the first aspect.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below withreference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a general configuration of a faceauthentication system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

This face authentication system includes face authentication machines 1,administrator terminals 2 (terminal devices, face authenticationadministrator devices), and face authentication servers 3 (cloudservers). A face authentication server 3 includes a face managementserver 5 (face image manager) and one or more face matching servers 6(face image matchers).

The face authentication machines 1, the administrator terminals 2, theface management servers 5, and the face matching servers 6 are connectedto each other via a network such as the Internet. A face authenticationsystem is built for each provider of face authentication service(business operator). A plurality of face authentication machines 1 areinstalled at respective places where face authentication is required,such as the entrance/exit of a building or the entrance/exit of a room.A required number of face matching servers 6 are provided according tothe number of face authentication machines 1 and other factors.

A face authentication machine 1 includes a camera 11 for acquiring ashot image of a user. A face authentication machine 1 also includes adisplay 12 for displaying a face authentication result acquired from theface matching server 6 to notify the user of the face authenticationresult.

An administrator terminal 2 is operated by an administrator, iscomprised primarily of a personal computer, in which a managementapplication is installed for managing the operations of faceauthentication machines 1, face management servers 5, and face matchingservers 6. The management application allows an administrator to performvarious management tasks. The management application is implemented as aWeb application.

The face management server 5 provides unified management of user data.Specifically, the face management server 5 accumulates and manages userdata such as first names, last names and face images of registeredusers.

When a face authentication process is performed, the face matchingserver 6 acquires face image data of a person to be verified from a faceauthentication machine(s) 1, generates face feature amount data of theperson to be verified, and performs a face matching operation bycomparing the face feature amount data of the person to be verified withface feature amount data of registrants (registered users) in the facematching server 6 for matching to determine whether or not the person tobe verified is a registrant.

Furthermore, upon user registration prior to a face authenticationprocess, the face matching server 6 acquires face image data of a userform an administrator terminal 2, generates face feature amount datafrom the acquired face image data and stores it in the face matchingserver 6. In other embodiments, the face matching server 6 may acquire ashot image(s) of a user from an administrator terminal 2 and thengenerate face image data of the user from the shot image(s).

Although, in the present embodiment, the face management server 5 (faceimage manager) and the face matching servers 6 (face image matchers) areprovided in physically separated information processing devices,respectively, these servers 5 and 6 may be provided within a singleinformation processing device.

Although, in the present embodiment, an administrator terminal 2 and aface management server 5 are separately provided, an administratorterminal 2 and a face management server 5 can be configured by a singleinformation processing device. For example, a face management server 5can be configured to also serve as an administrator terminal 2 byinstalling an administrator terminal application on the face managementserver 5.

Although, in the present embodiment, a face matching server performs aface feature amount matching operation as a face matching operation, theface matching operation is not limited to operation for face featureamount matching, and may adopt any other matching operation such as amatching operation using machine learning technology. Furthermore, thepresent embodiment can be applied to any other biometric authenticationother than face authentication.

Next, matching groups will be described. FIG. 2 is an explanatorydiagram showing an outline of a concept of a matching group.

In the present embodiment, matching groups are assigned to respectiveuser groups formed by grouping users based on the locations of faceauthentication machines 1 at which the users are authenticated. Also,matching groups are assigned to respective groups of face authenticationmachines 1 formed by grouping authentication machines 1 based on thelocations of the face authentication machines 1 in the same manner asthe user groups. Furthermore, matching groups are assigned tocorresponding face matching servers 6; that is, matching groups areassigned to groups of face matching servers 6, to which faceauthentication machines 1 make inquiries (requests) for faceauthentication, formed by grouping the face matching servers 6 in thesame manner as the groups of face authentication machines 1.

For example, when a face authentication machine 1 is installed at theentrance of a multi-tenant building in which a plurality of companiesare located as tenants, the face authentication machine 1 is used toauthenticate users who belong to the companies in the building. However,user data of the users who belong to different organizations cannot bemanaged in a single database. In such cases, different matching groupsare formed for respective companies, and user data records of thematching groups are separately stored so that the face authenticationmachine 1 can make an inquiry for face authentication to a face matchingserver(s) 6 of each matching group formed for a corresponding tenantcompany.

Users of each matching group can be authenticated only by acorresponding face authentication machine 1. Thus, even when a user is aregistered user, the user cannot be authenticated by a faceauthentication machine 1 which does not belong to the matching group ofthe user (e.g., a face authentication machine 1 located at a buildingthe user is not permitted to enter). For example, when a user working ata business office goes to a different business office, the user cannotbe authenticated by a face authentication machine 1 located at thedifferent business office.

Next, inquiries for face matching will be described. FIGS. 3A-C areexplanatory diagrams showing outlines of face matching inquiryoperations performed by a face authentication machine 1.

A face authentication machine 1 makes an inquiry for face matching to aface matching server(s) 6 which belongs to the same matching group asthe face authentication machine; that is, the face authenticationmachine 1 transmits a request for face matching to the face matchingserver 6 which can be an inquiry target (request target). A faceauthentication machine 1 stores the network addresses (IP addresses) offace matching servers 6 as part of matching group information, and thuscan make an inquiry for face matching to its corresponding face matchingserver(s) 6 by using the network address.

There are three types of inquiries for face matching; a simultaneousinquiry process as shown in FIG. 3A, a random inquiry process as shownin FIG. 3B, and a sequential inquiry process (destination-switchinginquiry process) as shown in FIG. 3C.

In the case of the simultaneous inquiry process as shown in FIG. 3A, aface authentication machine 1 simultaneously makes inquiries to facematching servers 6 for different matching groups. For example, when aface authentication machine 1 is located at an entrance of amulti-tenant building and users who belong to different matching groupsare to be verified, the face authentication machine 1 simultaneouslytransmits face matching requests to different face matching servers 6for the respective matching groups.

In some embodiments, face feature amount data of users of one commonmatching group may be divided into multiple data pieces to be separatelystored in different face matching servers 6, thereby reducing thecomputational load on each face matching server 6. In this case, a faceauthentication machine 1 simultaneously makes inquiries to the differentface matching servers 6 which belong to the same matching group as theface authentication machine 1, but store different data pieces.

In the case of the random inquiry process as shown in FIG. 3B, a faceauthentication machine 1 randomly selects one target face matchingserver 6 among multiple face matching servers 6 of the same matchinggroup as the face authentication machine 1. The respective face matchingservers 6 store the same registration data. In other words, all the facematching servers 6 can perform face matching operations on the same userand store the same user's face feature amount data. In this type ofinquiry process, since inquiries made by one face authentication machineare distributed to multiple face authentication servers 6, thecomputational load on each face matching server 6 is reduced; that is,computational load distribution can be achieved.

In the case of the sequential inquiry process as shown in FIG. 3C, aface authentication machine 1 sequentially selects target face matchingservers 6 one by one from multiple face matching servers 6 of the samematching group as the face authentication machine 1. Specifically, theface authentication machine 1 assigns an order (priority) to multipleface matching servers 6 and selects face matching servers one by one inthis order. In this process, upon receiving no response to an inquiryfrom a face matching server 6 with a certain priority, the faceauthentication machine 1 switches the inquiry destination to the facematching server 6 with the next priority, and transmits a request forface matching to that face matching server 6. This configuration can addredundancy (backup capabilities) to the system.

Next, a face matching unit will be described. FIGS. 4A-C are explanatorydiagrams showing outlines of concepts of a face matching unit.

A plurality of face matching units may be provided in a face matchingserver 6 for performing operations for face matching. A face matchingunit contains a face matching process which executes a face matchingprogram and a face matching database which stores data of registeredusers (face feature amount data) to be compared with user data to beverified in operations for face matching.

Each face mitching unit is provided for a corresponding matching groupand configured to perform a face matching operation in response to arequest for face matching. Thus, one face matching server 6 can be usedfor a plurality of matching groups.

As described above, a face authentication machine 1 stores the networkaddress (IP address) of a face matching server(s) 6 as part of matchinggroup information, and thus can make an inquiry for face matching to acorresponding face matching server(s) 6 by using the network address. Inthe present embodiment, a face authentication machine 1 further staresthe network address (IP address) of a face matching unit, and thus canmake an inquiry for face matching to a corresponding face matching unitby using the network address.

Since a face matching database is provided for each matching group, facefeature amount data of users can be stored separately for differentmatching groups. The face matching process executes a face matchingoperation in which stored face feature amount data for a matching groupis compared with face feature amount data generated from face image dataacquired from the face authentication machine 1 of the same matchinggroup.

There are various types of correspondence between a face authenticationmachine 1 and one or more face matching units.

In the example shown in FIG. 4A, a face matching server 6 contains oneface matching unit for the matching group of a face authenticationmachine 1, and thus the face authentication machine 1 has a one-to-onecorrespondence with the face matching server 6.

In the example shown in FIG. 4B, a face authentication machine 1 has aone-to-one correspondence with a face matching server 6, but the facematching server 6 contains two face matching units for the matchinggroup of the face authentication machine 1. In this case, when the faceauthentication machine 1 is installed at the entrance of a multi-tenantbuilding, data of users of different organizations (for example, users Aand users B) can be managed separately in different matching databases.

In the example shown in FIG. 4C, a face authentication machine 1 has aone-to-two correspondence with face matching servers 6, and thus theface authentication machine 1 makes inquiries for face matching(requests for face matching for a user X) to the two face matchingservers 6. In this case, since different face matching servers 6 eachcontain the same face matching unit; that is, multiple face matchingunits perform face matching operations with the use of face featureamount data of the same user, the system can achieve the distribution ofcomputational load on multiple face matching servers 6 and provide afail-safe against server failure.

Next, a schematic configuration of a face authentication machine 1 willbe described. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a schematicconfiguration of a face authentication machine 1.

A face authentication machine 1 includes a camera 11 (image pickupdevice), a display 12 (output device), a communication device 13, astorage 14, and a controller 15.

The camera 11 constantly shoots a predetermined shooting area so that,when a person enters the shooting area, the person is shot; that is, thecamera can acquire an image of a person to be verified. In some cases, amotion sensor (not shown) may be provided to detect a person who comesclose and activate the camera, thereby saving electrical power.

The display 12 displays a face authentication result so that a person tobe verified can confirm the face authentication result. In some cases, aspeaker may be used as an additional output device to output a faceauthentication result for a person to be verified, notifying the personof the face authentication result by voice or sound.

The communication device 13 (face image transmitter, authenticationresult receiver) communicates with a face matching server(s) 6 via thenetwork. In the present embodiment, the communication device 13transmits face image data to a face matching server 6. The communicationdevice 13 also receives the user's authentication result from a facematching server 6. Moreover, the communication device 13 communicateswith a face management server 5 via the network. In the presentembodiment, the communication device 13 receives matching groupinformation or other information from a face management server 5.

The storage 14 stores matching group information, control programs to beexecuted by a processor, which implements the controller 15, and otherinformation.

The controller 15 includes a start-up controller 21, a face imageextractor 22, a face matching requester 23, an authentication resultnotifier 24, an authentication result adjuster 25, and an operationstatus monitor 26. The controller 15 is configured by the processor, andeach functional unit of the controller 15 is implemented by theprocessor executing a program stored in the storage 14.

When the face authentication machine 1 starts up, the start-upcontroller 21 acquires matching group information from a face managementserver 5 and stores the acquired information in the storage 14. The waythe face authentication machine acquires matching group information isnot limited to this method. For example, when matching group informationis updated, a face management server 5 may deliver the matching groupinformation to the target face authentication machine 1.

The face image extractor 22 acquires a captured image (shot image) of aperson to be verified from the camera 11 (camera image capture); detectsa face of the person from the shot image (face detection); determineswhether or not the detected face size is appropriate (face size check);and cuts out a face region from the shot image (face cut-out) to therebyacquire the face image data of the person to be verified. The face imagedata may be in the form of the image data of a face region only, or inthe form of a combination of data of the shot image and data of theposition of a face region in the shot image (face frame data).

The face matching requester 23 transmits a request for face matching toa face matching server 6 of the same matching group as the faceauthentication machine.

The authentication result notifier 24 displays a face authenticationresult acquired from a face matching server 6 on the display 12 tonotify the user of the face authentication result.

The authentication result adjuster 25 performs control to share a facematching result of a user acquired from a face matching server 6 with amanagement server 8 (external device) of an external system shown inFIG. 57 , which will be described later. The authentication resultadjuster 25 is implemented by a connection application, and configuredto notify the management server 8 of face matching results of users.

The operation status monitor 26 monitors the operation status of theface authentication machine 1 and notifies a face management server 5 ofthe operation status.

Next, an administrator terminal 2 will be described. FIG. 6 is a blockdiagram showing a schematic configuration of an administrator terminal2.

The administrator terminal 2 includes a communication device 31, adisplay 32 (display device), an input device 33 (operation interface), astorage 34, and a controller 35.

The communication device 31 communicates with a face managementserver(s) 5 via the network. In the present embodiment, thecommunication device 31 receives screen information and otherinformation from a face management server 5, and, in response, transmitsinformation on an administrator's operation on the screen or otherinformation to the face management server 5.

The display 32 displays various types of screens. The input device 33may be a mouse, a keyboard, or other types of interface, and is used tooperate the screen on the display 32.

The storage 34 stores programs (such as administrator terminal'sapplication) to be executed by a processor, which implements thecontroller 35, or other information.

The controller 35 includes a GUI controller 41. The controller 35 isconfigured by the processor, and each part of the controller 35 isimplemented by the processor executing a program (of the administratorterminal's application) stored in the storage 34.

The GUI controller 41 performs control to display various operationscreens delivered from a face management server 5 on the display 32. Inresponse to an input operation performed by an administrator using theinput device 33, the GUI controller 41 acquires information entered bythe administrator and controls screen display. In the presentembodiment, the GUI controller 41 controls screen display and data entryrelated to log-in, i.e., a log-in screen and data entry therein. Inaddition, the GUI controller 41 controls screen display and data entryrelated to user management, i.e., screens for registration (individualregistration, collective registration), view, update, and deletion ofuser data, and data entry therein. Furthermore, the GUI controller 41controls screen display and data entry related to matching groupmanagement, i.e., screens for registration (individual registration,collective registration), view, update, and deletion of data of matchinggroups and data entry therein. In addition, the GUI controller 41controls screen display and data entry related to face authenticationmachine management, i.e., screens for registration, view, update, anddeletion of data of associations (hereinafter also simply referred to as“associations”) between authentication machines and matching groups. TheGUI controller 41 also controls screen display and data entry related toa view screen for viewing authentication logs.

Next, a schematic configuration of a face management server 5 will bedescribed. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a schematic configurationof a face management server 5.

The face management server 5 includes a communication device 51, astorage 52, and a controller 53.

The communication device 51 communicates with an administratorterminal(s) 2 via the network. The communication device 51 communicateswith a face authentication machine(s) 1 via the network. Thecommunication device 51 communicates with a face matching server(s) 6.

The storage 52 stores a face information database, a database ofassociations between face authentication machines 1 and matching groups,a database of associations between face matching servers 6 and matchinggroups, administrator access logs, control programs executed by aprocessor that implements the controller 53, and other information.

The face information database contains user data of registered userssuch as first name, last name, face image, matching group of each user.Users' face images may be stored in an encrypted state for privacyprotection.

The controller 53 includes an administrator access manager 61, a usermanager 62, a matching group manager 63, a face authentication machinemanager 64, a face matching server manager 65, a face informationmanager 66, a database manager 67, an operation status monitor 68, andan authentication log presenter 69. The controller 53 is configured bythe processor, and each unit of the controller 53 is implemented by theprocessor executing a program stored in the storage 52. Each unit of thecontroller 53 is configured as a Web API (Web Application ProgrammingInterface).

The administrator access manager 61 permits or denies the access (login)of an administrator who accesses the face management server from theadministrator terminal 2 according to the permission group of theadministrator.

In addition, the administrator access manager 61 is configured to manageaccesses to the face management server from administrator terminals 2,and when an administrator operates the administrator terminal 2 toaccess the face management server, the administrator access manager 61stores information about the access in the storage 52 as anadministrator access log (history information). Moreover, in response toa request for viewing from an administrator terminal 2, theadministrator access manager 61 presents the administrator access log tothe administrator terminal 2.

The user manager 62 manages data of users and performs necessaryoperations regarding user data in response to a request from anadministrator terminal 2. In the present embodiment, when anadministrator terminal 2 makes a request for registration, view, update,or deletion of user data, the user manager 62 performs necessaryoperations in response to the request.

The matching group manager 63 manages information about matching groups,and performs necessary operations regarding matching groups in responseto a request from an administrator terminal 2. In the presentembodiment, when an administrator terminal 2 makes a request forregistration, view, update, or deletion of data regarding a matchinggroup, the matching group manager 63 performs necessary operations inresponse to the request. Furthermore, the matching group manager 63generates matching group information for each face authenticationmachine 1 (i.e., information required for the face authenticationmachine 1 to transmit a request for face matching to a face matchingserver 6 of the same matching group), and provides the matching groupinformation to the face authentication machine 1.

The face authentication machine manager 64 manages information aboutface authentication machines 1 and performs necessary operations relatedto face authentication machines 1 in response to a request from anadministrator terminal 2. In the present embodiment, when anadministrator terminal 2 makes a request for registration, view, update,or deletion of data regarding associations between face authenticationmachines 1 and matching groups, the face authentication machine manager64 performs necessary operations in response to the request.

The face matching server manager 65 manages information about facematching servers 6, and performs necessary operations related to facematching servers 6 in response to a request from an administratorterminal 2. In the present embodiment, when an administrator terminal 2makes a request for registration, view, update, or deletion of dataregarding associations between face matching servers 6 and matchinggroups, the face matching server manager 65 performs necessaryoperations in response to the request.

The face information manager 66 manages users' face information storedin the face management server and a face matching server(s) 6,respectively. In the present embodiment, the face information manager 66synchronizes face information in these servers such that users' faceinformation stored in the face management server (such as each user'sfirst name, last name, and face image) and that stored in a facematching server(s) 6 (each user's face feature amount data) areconsistent with each other. Furthermore, the face information manager 66makes copies of face information (users' face feature amount data) fromone storage to another.

The database manager 67 manages databases in the face management server5, and backs up and restores the databases.

The operation status monitor 68 monitors the operation status of theface management server 5, and also receives notifications of theoperation statuses from face authentication machines 1 and face matchingservers 6. Moreover, in response to an administrator's operation on theadministrator terminal 2, the operation status monitor 68 displays theoperation statuses of a face authentication machine(s) 1, the facemanagement server (face management server 5), and a face matchingserver(s) 6 on the screen of the administrator terminal 2.

The authentication log presenter 69 acquires an authentication log froma face matching server 6 in response to a request for viewing from anadministrator terminal 2, and presents the authentication log to theadministrator terminal 2.

Next, a schematic configuration of a face matching server 6 will bedescribed. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a schematic configurationof a face matching server 6.

The face matching server 6 includes a communication device 71, a storage72, and a controller 73.

The communication device 71 (face image receiver, authentication resulttransmitter) communicates with a face authentication machine(s) 1 via anetwork. In the present embodiment, the communication device 71 receivesface image data and other information from a face authenticationmachine(s) 1. The communication device 71 transmits a user'sauthentication result and other information to a face authenticationmachine(s) 1. In addition, the communication device 71 communicates witha face management server(s) 5 via the network. In the presentembodiment, the communication device 71 receives requests for variousprocessing operations from a face management server 5 and transmits aresponse to each request to the face management server 5.

The storage 72 stores a face matching database, information about anassociation between each user and a corresponding feature amount,information about a matching group of each face matching server,authentication logs, control programs executed by a processor whichimplements the controller 73, and other information.

A face matching database contains user face feature amount data andother data as data of registered users. Face matching databases areseparately provided for different matching groups, and thus users' facefeature amount data is stored for each matching group. In case ofunexpected loss of data from a face matching database, the face featureamount data of registered users may be backed up and saved in anon-volatile memory such as an HDD or SSD mounted in the face matchingserver 6.

The controller 73 includes a matching group manager 81, an image qualitychecker 82, a face image extractor 83, a face feature amount generator84, a face feature amount manager 85, a face feature amount matcher 86,an authentication Log manager 87, a database manager 88, and anoperation status monitor 89. The controller 73 is configured by theprocessor, and each unit of the controller 73 is implemented by theprocessor executing a program stored in the storage 72. Each unit of thecontroller 73 is configured as a Web API (Web Application ProgrammingInterface).

The matching group manager 81 manages the matching group to which theface matching server 6 belongs, and performs operations for theregistration or deletion of data regarding matching groups in responseto a request from a face management server 5.

The image quality checker 82 determines whether or not the image of aface region in the shot image satisfies a predetermined quality level.Specifically, the image quality checker 82 detects whether or not aperson to be verified in the image wears a mask, and whether or not theperson wears sunglasses, and calculates the degree of faceauthentication suitability (an evaluation value based on faceorientation and facial expression).

Upon user registration, the face image extractor 83 extracts a faceimage from a shot image of a user acquired from an administratorterminal 2. Specifically, the face image extractor 83 detects a person'sface from the shot image (face detection); determines whether or not thedetected face size is appropriate (face size check); and cuts out a faceregion from the shot image (face cut-out) to thereby acquire the faceimage data of the person. In other embodiments, the face image extractor83 may extract a face image from a shot image of a person to be verifiedacquired from a face authentication machine 1 when a face authenticationprocess is performed.

The face feature amount generator 84 detects face feature points fromface image data and generates face feature amount data at times of userregistration and a face authentication process

Upon user registration, the face feature amount manager 85 registersface feature amount data of a user generated by the face feature amountgenerator 84 in the face matching database of the matching group of theuser. The face feature amount manager 85 deletes face feature amountdata registered in a face matching database in response to a requestfrom the face management server 5 when the data is updated or deleted.Furthermore, when the version of a program related to face featureamount generation or face matching algorithm is upgraded, in response toa request from a face management server 5, the face feature amountmanager 85 updates face feature amount data registered in a facematching database such that the face feature amount data can be used inthe new program.

During a face authentication process, the face feature amount matcher 86determines whether or not a person to be verified is a registrant bycomparing the face feature amount data of the person generated from faceimage data acquired from the face authentication machine 1, with theface feature amount data of registrants (registered users) stored in theface matching server 6. A face feature amount matchers 86 is providedfor a matching group associated with the face matching server 6. When aplurality of matching groups are associated with the face matchingserver 6, individual face feature amount matchers 86 are provided fordifferent matching groups. Each face feature amount matcher 86 (facematching process) in combination with a corresponding face matchingdatabase forms a face matching unit.

Moreover, a face feature amount matcher 86 calculates the degree ofsimilarity (matching score) between a person to be verified andregistrant data. The face feature amount matcher 86 can compare thecalculated similarity with a predetermined threshold value to determinewhether or not the person to be verified can be authenticated; that is,whether a face authentication result for the person is a success or afailure. The face feature amount matcher 86 notifies the faceauthentication machine 1 of the face authentication result as a matchingresult. A face feature amount matcher 86 may notify a faceauthentication machine of, in addition to a face authentication result,a list of registrants having high degrees of similarity with a person tobe verified along with the registrants' personal IDs and degrees ofsimilarity.

When a face authentication machine 1 makes a request for faceauthentication to the face matching server 6, the authentication logmanager 87 stores and accumulates information about the request (i.e.,the device ID of the face authentication machine 1 making the request, aface matching result, and other information) in the storage 72 as anauthentication log. In addition, the authentication log manager 87provides authentication logs to a face management server 5 in responseto a request from the face management server 5.

The database manager 88 manages databases in the face matching server 6,and backs up and restores the databases.

The operation status monitor 89 monitors the operation status of theface matching server 6 and notifies a face management server 5 of theoperation status of the face matching server 6.

In the present embodiment, the primary functions of a face matchingserver 6 include face image extraction, face feature amount generation,and face feature amount matching, and the respective functions may beimplemented by different information processing devices operatingindependently from one another. For example, the face image extractionfunction may be implemented by a separate information processing deviceoperating independently from the other device(s) which implements thefunctions of face feature amount generation and face feature amountmatching.

Next, operations performed by the face image extractor 22 of a faceauthentication machine 1 during a face authentication process will bedescribed. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline ofoperations performed by the face image extractor 22 of a faceauthentication machine 1.

The face authentication machine 1 may be provided with a plurality ofcameras 11. In this case, a camera image capture process (functionalunit) is provided for each camera 11 to acquire shot images from thecamera. When starting up, the face authentication machine 1 activateseach camera image capture process, which transfer shot images acquiredfrom the camera 11 to a control process (functional unit). The controlprocess performs the operations of face detection, face size check, andface cut-out on the captured images from the respective cameras 11.

In a face authentication machine 1, the control process reads a settingfile including information on the settings of the respective cameras,and causes the camera image capture processes to operate based on theinformation of the settings. In operation, each camera image captureprocess receives parameters from the control process, the parametersincluding camera type, camera connection information, image acquisitionrate, and acquired image size.

In the face detection operation, the control process detects a faceregion included in a captured image from a camera 11. The controlprocess determines a face frame (a rectangular frame surrounding theface region) based on the detection result.

An image shot by a camera 11 may include a plurality of face regions. Inthis case, the control process selects one face region to be verifiedfrom the detected face regions (face region selection operation).Although, in the present embodiment, the control process selects onlyone face region to be verified, the control process may select two ormore face regions to be verified. In the latter case, an administratormay designate the number of face regions to be selected.

In the face region selection operation, the control process may selectthe face region to be verified based on the size (area) of a face frame.Specifically, the control process may calculate the area of each faceframe from the width and height thereof, compare the areas betweendifferent face frames, and select a predetermined number of face regionsin descending order of area. When selecting only one face region, thecontrol process may select the face region having the largest area. Whentwo or more face frames have the same area, the control process mayselect the face region(s) in the order of detection.

The control process may select the face region to be verified based onthe width of a face frame. Specifically, the control process may comparethe widths between different face frames, and select a predeterminednumber of face regions in descending order of width. When selecting onlyone face region, the control process may select the face region havingthe largest width. When two or more face frames have the same width, thecontrol process may select the face region(s) in the order of detection.

Prior to face detection, the face authentication machine 1 can perform apreliminary operation such as grayscale conversion.

In the face size check operation, the control process determines whetheror not the size of a face region (face frame) detected from a capturedimage falls within a predetermined range (appropriate range). When thewidth and height of a face frame acquired by face detection are withinpredetermined ranges, respectively, the control process determines thatthe size of the face region is suitable. More specifically, respectivethresholds (minimum and maximum values) are preset for the width andheight, and the control process compares the width and height of a faceframe with the respective minimum and maximum values. The controlprocess determines that the size of a face region is suitable when thewidth is greater than or equal to its minimum value and less than orequal to its maximum value, and the height is greater than or equal toits minimum value and less than or equal to its maximum value.

FIGS. 10 and 11 are explanatory diagrams showing an outline of a facecut-out operation performed by a face authentication machine 1.

In the face cut-out operation, the control process determines thecut-out region for an image captured by a camera based on the faceregion (face frame) acquired by face detection operation. The controlprocess cuts out an image of the cut-out region (face cut-out frame) asa face image. The control process determines a cut-out region around aface region as a region extending beyond the face region in the verticaland horizontal directions.

In the example shown in FIG. 10A, the extension coefficient k is 3, andthe cut-out region is determined as a region three times as large as theface region detected by the face detection operation. In the exampleshown in FIG. 10B, the extension coefficient k is 4, and the cut-outregion is determined as a region four times as large as the face region.

As shown in FIG. 10B, the coordinates (x′, y′) of the center point B ofthe face frame are calculated as the following equation.

(x′,y′)=((x+w)/2,(y+h)/2)

where (x, y) are the coordinates of the upper left vertex A of the faceframe, and w and h are the width and height of the face frame.

The width W and height H of the cut-out region are calculated by thefollowing equations.

W=w×k

H=h×k

where w and h are the width and height of the face frame and k is theextension coefficient.

The coordinates (X, Y) of the upper left vertex C of the cut-out regionare given by the following equation.

(X,Y)=(x′−(W/2),y′−(H/2))

where (x′, y′) are the coordinates of the center point B of the faceframe, and W and H are the width and the height of the cut-out region.

The cut-out region is defined by the coordinates (X, Y) of the upperleft vertex C, the width W and the height H thereof.

The cut-out region can be determined without any further process when acaptured image contains the entire cut-out region. However, as shown inFIG. 11A, a captured image does not always include the entire cut-outregion (i.e., part of the cut-out region extends beyond a capturedimage).

In this case, as shown in FIG. 11B, the control process produces abackground image of the same size as the cut-out region. The backgroundimage fills the margins or regions extending beyond the captured image,and is filled with a predetermined color (e.g., black). Moreover, asshown in FIG. 11C, the control process acquires a cut-out image bycutting out an image of part of the cut-out region in the shot image.Then, as shown in FIG. 11D, the control process superimposes the cut-outimage on the background image to generate a face image.

Next, operations for face image extraction will be described. FIG. 12 isan explanatory diagram showing an outline of operations for face imageextraction.

As described above, the face image extractor 22 of a face authenticationmachine 1 performs operations for face image extraction; that is, theoperations of face detection, face size check, and face cut-out tothereby generate face image data from a user's shot image. The faceimage extractor 83 of a face matching server 6 also performs the sameoperations for face image extraction in a similar manner.

Upon user registration, an administrator terminal 2 transmits data of ashot image of a user to a face matching server 6 via a face managementserver 5, and then the face image extractor 83 of the face matchingserver 6 performs operations for face image extraction.

At the time of face authentication, only a face authentication machine 1performs operations for face image extraction, and a face matchingserver 6 does not perform the operations for face image extraction. Assuch, a face authentication machine 1 is configured to have a highlyaccurate face detection capability. In a face authentication machine 1,each camera 11 constantly shoots images of a corresponding shootingarea, and upon detecting a face, the face authentication machine 1transmits face image information (captured image data and face frameinformation) to a face matching server 6. As a result, the computationalload of the operations for face image extraction is distributed to aplurality of face authentication machines 1, thereby reducing the loadon a face matching server(s) 6. Moreover, this configuration can reducethe amount of communications, thereby decreasing the load on thenetwork. Furthermore, since this configuration allows for quick faceauthentication responses, even when persons to be verified appear insuccession, the system can efficiently perform face authenticationprocesses for the persons.

In this way, the face authentication system is configured to share theoperational load of a face authentication process between a faceauthentication machine 1 and a face matching server 6, therebyeliminating the need of providing a number of expensive faceauthentication machines capable of performing all the operations forface authentication, as in the prior art. In addition, even when theupdate of face feature amount data occurs, there is no need for alarge-scale maintenance work on face authentication machines, and theadaptation of a face matching server 6 is sufficient to make the newdata usable. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, a faceauthentication system can be implemented at a lower cost and configuredto require less maintenance work.

In some cases, an administrator terminal 2 may be configured without afunction of face image extraction: that is, an administrator terminal 2may be configured without a face image extractor 22.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of face matchinginquiry operations using matching group information.

A face management server 5 stores matching group information aboutmatching groups of users, data of associations between faceauthentication machines 1 and matching groups, and data of associationsbetween face matching servers 6 and matching groups. The matching groupmanager 63 of a face management server 5 generates matching groupinformation for each face authentication machine 1 based on the data ofassociations between face authentication machines 1 and matching groupsand the data of associations between face matching servers 6 andmatching groups.

The matching group information is required for a face authenticationmachine 1 to transmit a request for face matching to the face matchingserver(s) 6 of the same matching group as the face authenticationmachine 1. The matching group information includes ID information (groupnumber) of the matching groups of the face authentication machine 1, anddestination data of the face matching server 6 to which the faceauthentication machine 1 makes a request (i.e., the face matching server6 of the same matching group as the face authentication machine 1).Specifically, the destination data is the network address (e.g. IPaddress) of the face matching server 6. The destination data is used toidentify the face matching server 6 to which a face authenticationmachine transmits a request for face matching, and to associate the faceauthentication machine 1 with the face matching server(s) 6 to which theface authentication machine 1 can make a request. When a faceauthentication machine 1 belongs to a plurality of matching groups, theaddresses (IP addresses) of the respective face matching servers 6 ofthe matching groups are included in the matching group information.

In a face authentication machine 1, at the time of starting up or othertiming, the start-up controller 21 acquires matching group informationfrom a face management server 5 as operation setting information andstores the information in the face authentication machine 1. Whendetecting the face of a person, the face authentication machine 1transmits a request for face matching to the face matching server 6 ofthe same matching group as the face authentication machine. The requestfor face matching includes information on the matching group of the faceauthentication machine and other information.

A face authentication machine 1 may acquire setting information aboutmatching groups from a face management server 5 at the time of startingup, at a predetermined time, or an regular intervals. In otherembodiments, the face management server 5 may deliver matching groupinformation to a face authentication machine(s) 1.

A face matching server 6 stores data of associations between facematching processes of the face matching server 6 and matching groups.Upon receiving a request for face matching from a face authenticationmachine 1, the face matching server 6 identifies the face matchingprocess corresponding to the face authentication machine 1 based on thedata of association between the matching group and the faceauthentication process and the matching group information acquired fromthe face authentication machine 1, thereby causing the identified facematching process to execute a face matching operation. In this way, theface matching process for the matching group of a face authenticationmachine performs a face matching operation.

In the present embodiment, a face matching server 6 includes individualface matching databases for different face matching groups, and storesface feature amount data of each matching group in a correspondingmatching database. Thus, upon receiving a request for face matching, theface matching server 6 performs a face matching operation on the facefeature amount data registered in the database of the matching group ofthe face authentication machine 1. In other embodiments, a face matchingserver 6 may first perform a face matching operation on face featureamount data regardless of the matching group of a face authenticationmachine 1, and then perform a filtering operation on the face matchingresult. In other words, the face matching server 6 may first perform aface matching operation on the stored face feature amount data of theall users, and then extract face matching results regarding the userswho belongs to the same matching group as the face authenticationmachine 1. In this case, face matching databases may not be providedseparately for different matching group.

Next, administrator access management will be described.

The system of the present embodiment manages access from anadministrator terminal 2 to a face management server(s) 5 and a facematching server(s) 6. A face management server 5 includes theadministrator access manager 61. The administrator access manager 61monitors the status of access (login) from an administrator terminal 2to the face management server 5 and the face matching server 6. Whendetecting an access from an administrator terminal 2, the administratoraccess manager 61 records information about the access (such asaccessing administrator, accession date and time) as an administratoraccess log (history information). Furthermore, the face managementserver 5 provides the administrator access logs to the administratorterminal 2 in response to a request for viewing administrator accesslogs from the administrator terminal 2, thereby enabling anadministrator to view the administrator access logs.

In the system of the present embodiment, access rights to userinformation are set and granted to some administrators to restrictaccess to user information (for registering, viewing, updating anddeleting user data). Administrators are grouped into multipleadministrator groups based on the types of access rights granted tothem. For example, administrators are grouped into the groups of systemoperation administrators, service operation administrators, and generaladministrators.

In the present embodiment, users are grouped into a plurality ofpermission groups according to the administrator group with access touser information. Each permission group of users corresponds to anadministrator group with access to data of the users. In the presentembodiment, users are grouped into the groups of system operation users,service operation users, and general users.

When detecting a login from an administrator, the face management server5 acquires the administrator group (administrator type) of the logged-inadministrator, and determines whether or not to allow the administratorto access data of a user (for viewing, updating, and deleting the data)based on its administrator group and the permission group to which theuser belongs, and permits the administrator to the user data based onthe determination result. In other words, the face management server 5allows the logged-in administrator to view, update, and delete only userdata to which the administrator group of the administrator is permittedto access.

A system operation administrator is a person who manages the operationof the system (such as maintenance), and is permitted to access the dataof all users; that is, users who belong to permission groups of systemusers, administration users, or general users. A service operationadministrator is a person who manages operations related to faceauthentication services (such as user registration/deletion) provided bythe system, and is permitted to access the data of users who belong topermission groups of administration users or general users. A generaladministrator is a person authorized by a service operationadministrator, and is permitted to access only the data of users whobelong to a permission group of general users.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing a login screen displayed on anadministrator terminal 2.

Upon the activation of the administrator application, an administratorterminal 2 accesses a face management server 5, and displays a loginscreen. An administrator can operate the login screen to enter theadministrator's user ID and password. When the administrator enters theuser ID and password on this login screen and operates the login button,the face management server 5 performs operations for userauthentication. When the administrator successfully logs in, theadministrator terminal 2 displays the top screen. When the administratorfails to log in, the administrator terminal 2 displays an error screen.

Next, operations for registering, viewing, updating and deleting data ofmatching groups will be described. FIGS. 15A-C and 16 are explanatorydiagrams showing screens displayed on the administrator terminal 2 whendata of matching groups is to be registered, viewed, updated, anddeleted.

For the operations for registering, viewing, updating and deleting dataof matching groups, an administrator terminal 2 displays a view screenshown in FIG. 15A, a registration screen shown in FIG. 15B, an updatescreen shown in FIG. 15C, and a deletion screen shown in FIG. 16 .

The view screen shown in FIG. 15A displays a list of registered matchinggroups. An administrator can check the registered data of matchinggroups displayed on the view screen.

The view screen includes a list display section 101 and an update button102. The list display section 101 displays matching group IDs (numbers)and corresponding descriptions (installation locations) about thematching groups for registered matching groups. This allows anadministrator to check the registered matching groups. When anadministrator operates the update button 102 on the view screen, thelist display section 101 is updated to indicate the latest registereddata. Furthermore, when the administrator selects a matching group byoperating its matching group ID, the screen transitions to the updatescreen (see FIG. 15C).

An administrator can designate an item (matching group, description) onthe view screen to thereby perform a sort operation. In some cases, anadministrator can designate the number of items displayed in the listdisplay section 101 (the number of face matching servers 6), the rangesof face matching servers 6 and matching groups to be indicated on theview screen. Furthermore, the system may be configured to allow anadministrator to designate search conditions for respective items(apparatus ID, face matching server 6, description) on the view screento thereby perform a search operation.

The registration screen (first screen) shown in FIG. 15B allows anadministrator to register a matching group.

The registration screen includes a description input section 103 and aregistration button 104. An administrator can enter a description abouta matching group in the description input section 103. When anadministrator operates the registration button 104 after enteringdescription, the face management server 5 performs an operation forregistering matching group information including the entered descriptionin the databases.

The update screen shown in FIG. 15C allows an administrator to updatedata of a matching group.

The update screen includes a description input section 105 and an updatebutton 106. An administrator can enter a description about a matchinggroup in the description input section 105. When an administratoroperates the update button 106 after entering description, the facemanagement server 5 performs an operation for updating matching groupinformation in the databases with the entered description.

The deletion screen shown in FIG. 16 allows an administrator to deletedata of a matching group.

The deletion screen includes a list display section 107 and a deletionbutton 108. The list display section 107 displays matching group IDs(numbers) and the corresponding descriptions (installation locations)for the registered matching groups. The list display section 107includes a check box for each matching group. This allows anadministrator to select one or more registered matching groups. When anadministrator marks one or more checkboxes to select matching groups tobe deleted and operates the deletion button 108, the face managementserver 5 performs a deletion operation to delete data of the selectedmatching groups.

Then, when the administrator selects “view” in the menu screen (notshown), the screen transitions to the view screen shown in FIG. 15A.When the administrator selects “registration” in the menu screen, thescreen transitions to the registration screen shown in FIG. 15B. Whenthe administrator selects “update” in the menu screen, the screentransitions to the update screen shown in FIG. 15C. When theadministrator selects “deletion” in the menu screen, the screentransitions to the deletion screen shown in FIG. 16 .

Next, operations for registering, viewing, updating and deleting data ofmatching groups will be described. FIGS. 17A-C are sequence diagramsshowing operation procedures of operations for registering, viewing, andupdating data of a matching group. FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagramshowing an outline of operations for registering, viewing, and updatingdata of a matching group.

First, the operations for registering data of a matching group in thesystem will be described.

As shown in FIG. 17A, an administrator operates an administratorterminal 2, instructing the system to perform the operations forregistering data of a matching group. In the present embodiment, anadministrator operates on the registration screen (FIG. 15B) to registerdata of a matching group.

As shown in FIG. 18 , when the administrator operates the administratorterminal 2, instructing the system to perform the operations forregistering data of a matching group, the matching group manager 63 in aface management server 5 performs a registration operation forregistering data of the matching group entered by the administrator in adatabase of matching groups.

When the registration operation for registering data of the matchinggroup is completed, the face management server 5 causes theadministrator terminal 2 to display on the screen an operation resultindicating whether or not the registration operation has been normallycompleted. In addition, the administrator access manager 61 in the facemanagement server 5 records an administrator access log.

Next, the operations for viewing data of matching groups will bedescribed.

As shown in FIG. 17B, an administrator operates an administratorterminal 2, instructing the system to perform the operations for viewingdata of matching groups. In the present embodiment, an administratoroperates on the menu screen to open the view screen for viewing data ofmatching groups (FIG. 15A).

When the administrator operates the administrator terminal 2,instructing the system to perform the operations for viewing data ofmatching groups, a face management server 5 performs a view operationfor viewing data of the matching groups, referring to a databasecontaining data of matching groups to thereby create list informationincluding a list of all matching groups, causing the administratorterminal to display the view screen for indicating the list of thematching groups based on the list information. When the administratoroperates on the view screen (FIG. 15A) to select an item and instructthe system to perform a sorting operation, the face management server 5creates sorted list information including a sorted list of matchinggroups, and causes the administrator terminal to display the view screenfor indicating the sorted list of matching groups.

Next, the operations for updating data of a matching group in the systemwill be described.

As shown in FIG. 17C, an administrator operates an administratorterminal 2, instructing the system to perform the operations forupdating data of a matching group. In the present embodiment, anadministrator operates on the update screen (FIG. 15C) to enter updateddata of a matching group and operates the update button 106.

When the administrator operates the administrator terminal 2,instructing the system to perform the operations for updating data of amatching group, a face management server 5 performs an update operationfor updating a database of matching groups with the updated data of thematching group designated by the administrator. Then, when the updateoperation is completed, the face management server 5 causes theadministrator terminal 2 to display on the screen an operation resultindicating whether or not the update operation has been normallycompleted.

Next, the operations for deleting data of a matching group(s) will bedescribed. FIG. 19 is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedureof the operations for deleting data of a matching group. FIG. 20 is anexplanatory diagram showing an outline of the operations for deletingdata of a matching group.

As shown in FIG. 19 , an administrator operates an administratorterminal 2, instructing the system to perform the operations fordeleting data of a matching group. In the present embodiment, anadministrator operates on the deletion screen (FIG. 16 ) to select amatching group to be deleted and then operates the deletion button 108.

As shown in FIG. 20 , when the administrator operates the administratorterminal 2, instructing the system to perform the operations fordeleting data of a matching group, a face management server 5 performsdeletion operations related to the matching group. In the deletionoperations, the face management server 5 deletes the registered datarelated to the matching group designated by the administrator from adatabase of matching groups. The face management server 5 also deletesdata of the association(s) between the designated matching group and aface matching server(s) 6. More specifically, the face management server5 first deletes data of the association between the designated matchinggroup and the face matching server(s) 6, and then deletes the registereddata of the matching group. In addition, the face management server 5deletes data related to the designated matching group from a database ofassociations between matching groups and users. Moreover, the facemanagement server 5 deletes the face information (face feature amountdata) of users who belongs to the designated matching group from a faceinformation database. The face management server 5 also deletes data ofthe association(s) between the designated matching group and a faceauthentication machine(s) 1. The administrator access manager 61 in theface management server 5 records an administrator access log.

Furthermore, the face management server 5 transmits a request fordeleting the matching group to the face matching server 6. The requestfor deleting the matching group includes information on the matchinggroup to be deleted.

Upon receiving the request for deleting the matching group from the facemanagement server 5, the face matching server 6 performs a deletionoperation for deleting data of the matching group. The deletionoperation involves deleting data of association(s) between thedesignated matching group and a face matcher(s) (face matching process).More specifically, the deletion operation involves disabling the facematcher for the designated matching group and deleting the face matchingdatabase for the designated matching group.

Then, when the deletion operation is completed, the face matching server6 transmits a response to the request for deleting the matching group tothe face management server 5. The response includes an operation resultindicating whether or not the deletion operation has been normallycompleted.

When receiving the response to the request for deletion from the facematching server 6 and finishing all the operations for deletion, theface management server 5 causes the administrator terminal 2 to displayon the screen an operation result indicating whether or not theoperations for deletion have been normally completed.

With regard to the face authentication machine(s) 1 for the matchinggroup, the data regarding the designated matching group is not deletedso as to reflect the result of the operations for deletion until theface authentication machine 1 is rebooted.

Next, operations for collectively registering data of matching groupswill be described. FIG. 21 is a sequence diagram showing an operationprocedure of operations for collectively registering data of matchinggroups.

The system of the present embodiment can collectively register data ofmatching groups in a face management server 5 by using a file containinginformation on a list of matching groups to be registered.

Specifically, an administrator operates an administrator terminal 2,instructing the system to perform the operations for collectivelyregistering data of matching groups. In the present embodiment, anadministrator operates on the registration screen (not shown) to selecta file containing information on a list of matching groups to beregistered, and then operates the registration button.

Then, the administrator terminal 2 reads the selected file of the targetmatching group list and displays the target matching group list in theconfirmation screen on the administrator terminal 2. The administratorchecks the registered data shown in the confirmation screen and thenoperates the screen, instructing the system to collectively register thematching groups in the list. If necessary, the administrator can modifysome registered data in the list by operating on the confirmationscreen.

When the administrator operates the administrator terminal 2,instructing the system to perform the operations for collectivelyregistering data of matching groups, a face management server 5 performsa collective registration operation for collectively registering thelisted matching groups. The collective registration operation involvesrepeatedly performing a registration operation for registering data ofeach matching group, based on the target matching group list acquiredfrom the administrator terminal 2.

When the collective registration operation is completed, the facemanagement server 5 causes the administrator terminal 2 to display onthe screen an operation result indicating whether or not the collectiveregistration operation has been normally completed. The face managementserver 5 also reports a matching group(s) which the server has failed toregister data therefor, to the administrator and prompts theadministrator to re-register the data of the matching group. The facemanagement server 5 outputs the registration result as a log file.

Although the operations for collectively registering data of matchinggroups have been described, operations for collectively updating and/ordeleting data of matching groups can be performed in a similar manner.

Next, operations for registering, viewing, updating and deletingassociations between face authentication machines 1 and matching groupsin the present system will be described. FIGS. 22A-B and 23 areexplanatory diagrams showing screens displayed on the administratorterminal 2 when associations between face authentication machines 1 andmatching groups are to be registered, viewed, updated and deleted.

When associations between face authentication machines 1 and matchinggroups are to be registered, viewed, updated, and deleted, anadministrator terminal 2 displays a view screen shown in FIG. 22A, aregistration screen shown in FIG. 22B, and a deletion screen shown inFIG. 23 , respectively.

The view screen shown in FIG. 22A displays a list of registeredassociations between face authentication machines 1 and matching groups.By viewing the view screen, an administrator can check the registeredassociations between face authentication machines 1 and matching groups.

The view screen includes a list display section 111 and a faceauthentication machine designation section 112. The list display section111 displays machine IDs of face authentication machines, matchinggroups (numbers) associated with the respective face authenticationmachines, and descriptions (installation location) about the respectiveregistered matching groups. The face authentication machine designationsection 112 provides a pulldown menu to allow an administrator to selecta target face authentication machine 1 (machine ID). This allows thelisted data records in the list display section 111 to be narrowed downto include designated face authentication machines; that is, only thematching groups associated with the designated face authenticationmachines are indicated in the list display section 111. When anadministrator does not select any face authentication machine 1 at theface authentication machine designation section 112, the list displaysection 111 indicates data records of all the face authenticationmachines 1.

An administrator can designate an item (machine ID, face authenticationmachine 1, description) on the view screen to thereby perform a sortoperation. In some cases, the view screen may allow an administrator todesignate the number of items displayed in the list display section 111(the number of face authentication machines 1) and the display range ofthe face authentication machines 1 and matching groups. Furthermore, theview screen may allow an administrator to designate search conditionsfor respective items (machine ID, face authentication machine 1,description) to thereby perform a search operation.

In the example shown in FIG. 22A, the face authentication machines 1 aregrouped based on the places where the face authentication machines 1 areinstalled (e.g., the locations of business offices).

The registration screen (second screen) shown in FIG. 22B allows anadministrator to set an association between a face authenticationmachine 1 and a matching group. By operating the registration screen, anadministrator can register data of an association between a faceauthentication machine 1 and a matching group.

The registration screen includes a face authentication machinedesignation section 113, a matching group designation section 114, and aregistration button 115. The face authentication machine designationsection 113 provides a pulldown menu to allow an administrator to selecta target face authentication machine 1 (machine ID). The matching groupdesignation section 114 provides a pulldown menu to allow anadministrator to select a matching group of the target faceauthentication machine 1. The pulldown menu indicates all registeredmatching groups which have been registered through the matching groupregistration screen (see FIG. 15B). When an administrator designates aface authentication machine and a matching group(s) to be associatedtherewith, and then operates the registration button 115, the facemanagement server 5 performs a registration operation for registeringthe entered data of an association in the database of associations.

When registering an association between one face authentication machine1 and a plurality of matching groups, an administrator can repeatedlyperform a registration operation for associating the one faceauthentication machine with each matching group by operating theregistration screen. In some cases, the registration screen may includea plurality of matching group designation sections 114.

The deletion screen shown in FIG. 23 allows an administrator to deletedata of one or more associations between face authentication machines 1and matching groups.

The deletion screen includes a list display section 116, a faceauthentication machine designation section 117, and a deletion button118. The list display section 116 displays machine IDs of faceauthentication machines, matching group IDs (numbers) associated withthe respective face authentication machines, and the correspondingdescriptions (installation locations) about matching groups. The listdisplay section 116 includes a check box for each association. Thisallows an administrator to select one or more associations to bedeleted. When an administrator marks one or more checkboxes to selectregistered associations to be deleted and then operates the deletionbutton 118, the face management server 5 performs a deletion operationfor deleting data of the selected registered associations. The faceauthentication machine designation section 117 provides a pulldown menuto allow an administrator to select a face authentication machine 1.This allows the listed data records in the list display section 116 tobe narrowed down to include a designated face authentication machine.

Then, when the administrator selects “view” in the menu screen (notshown), the screen transitions to the view screen shown in FIG. 22A.When the administrator selects “registration” in the menu screen, thescreen transitions to the registration screen shown in FIG. 22B. Whenthe administrator selects “deletion” in the menu screen, the screentransitions to the deletion screen shown in FIG. 23 . When theadministrator selects “update” in the menu screen, the screentransitions to the update screen (not shown). When an administratorselects an association between a face authentication machine 1 and amatching group on the view screen, the screen transitions to the updatescreen (not shown).

Although, in the example shown in FIG. 23 , the registered associationsare displayed in a list on the deletion screen, an individual data editscreen may be formed to allow an administrator to delete an associationtherein. The update screen (not shown) is the same as the registrationscreen (FIG. 22B).

Next, the operations for registering associations between a faceauthentication machine and a matching group(s). FIG. 24 is a sequencediagram showing an operation procedure of operations for registering anassociation between a face authentication machine 1 and a matchinggroup. FIG. 25 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of theoperations of registering an association between a face authenticationmachine 1 and a matching group.

An administrator operates an administrator terminal 2 to open theregistration screen (see FIG. 22B). In the present embodiment, anadministrator selects “registration” in the menu screen (not shown).

As shown in FIG. 25 , when an administrator operates an administratorterminal 2 to open the registration screen, a face management server 5creates face authentication machine list information including a list offace authentication machines 1, referring to a database containing dataof registered machines (face authentication machines 1 and face matchingservers 6). The face management server 5 also creates matching grouplist information including a list of matching groups, referring to adatabase containing data of matching groups. Then, based on the faceauthentication machine list information and the matching group listinformation, the face management server 5 generates screen informationfor the registration screen and causes the administrator terminal 2 todisplay the registration screen.

Next, the administrator operates the registration screen displayed onthe administrator terminal 2, instructing the system to register data ofan association between a face authentication machine and a matchinggroup. In the present embodiment, the administrator enters a combinationof a face authentication machine and a matching group on theregistration screen (FIG. 22B) and then operates the registrationbutton.

When the administrator operates the administrator terminal 2,instructing the system to register data of an association between theface authentication machine and the matching group, the face managementserver 5 performs a registration operation for registering theassociation between the face authentication machine 1 and the matchinggroup. In the registration operation, the face management server 5registers the association (i.e., the combination of the faceauthentication machine and the matching group) designated by theadministrator in the database. In the face authentication machine 1,associations between face authentication machines 1 and matching groupsare not updated to reflect the result of the registration operation whenthe face authentication machine 1 is rebooted.

Then, when the registration operation is completed, the face managementserver 5 causes the administrator terminal 2 to display an operationresult on the screen indicating whether or not the registrationoperation has been normally completed.

Next, the operations for viewing data of associations between faceauthentication machines 1 and matching groups will be described. FIG. 26is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedure of operations forviewing associations between face authentication machines 1 and matchinggroups.

An administrator operates an administrator terminal 2, instructing thesystem to perform the operations for viewing associations between facematching servers 6 and matching groups. In the present embodiment, anadministrator operates the menu screen to open the view screen (see FIG.22A).

When an administrator operates the administrator terminal 2, instructingthe system to perform the operations for viewing associations betweenface authentication machines 1 and matching groups, the face managementserver 5 performs a view operation for viewing associations between faceauthentication machines 1 and matching groups. In the view operation,the face management server 5 creates a list of associations for all theface matching servers 6 and causes the administrator terminal 2 todisplay the view screen. When an administrator operates to narrow downthe face authentication machines 1 to be indicated on the view screen,the face management server 5 creates a list of associations for theselected face authentication machines 1, causing the administratorterminal 2 to display the view screen indicating associations that arenarrowed down. When an administrator operates on the view screen toselect an item and instructs the system to perform a sorting operation,the face management server 5 creates sorted list information including asorted list of associations, causing the administrator terminal todisplay the view screen based on the sorted list information.

In addition, the face management server 5 records an administratoraccess log.

Next, the operations for updating associations (data of associations)between face authentication machines 1 and matching groups will bedescribed. FIG. 27 is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedureof operations for updating associations between face authenticationmachines 1 and matching groups.

An administrator operates an administrator terminal 2 to open the updatescreen (not shown). In the present embodiment, an administrator selects“update” in the menu screen (not shown).

When an administrator operates an administrator terminal 2 to open theupdate screen, a face management server 5 creates face authenticationmachine list information including a list of face authenticationmachines 1, referring to the database containing data of registeredmachines. The face management server 5 also creates matching group listinformation including a list of matching groups, referring to thedatabase containing data of matching groups. Then, based on the faceauthentication machine list information and the matching group listinformation, the face management server 5 generates screen informationfor the update screen to cause the administrator terminal 2 to displaythe update screen.

Next, the administrator operates the update screen displayed on theadministrator terminal 2, instructing the system to update theregistered data of associations between face authentication machines andmatching groups. In the present embodiment, the administrator entersupdate data on the update screen (not shown) and then operates theupdate button. Entry of the update data changes the combination of aface authentication machine and a matching group.

When an administrator operates the administrator terminal 2, instructingthe system to update data of an association between a faceauthentication machine and a matching group, the face management server5 performs an update operation to update the association between theface authentication machine and the matching group designated by theadministrator. When the update operation is completed, the facemanagement server 5 causes the administrator terminal 2 to display anoperation result on the screen to indicate whether or not the updateoperation has been normally completed.

Next, the operations for deleting data of associations between faceauthentication machines 1 and matching groups will be described. FIG. 28is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedure of the operationsfor deleting associations between face authentication machines 1 andmatching groups.

An administrator operates an administrator terminal 2, instructing thesystem to delete associations between face authentication machines andmatching groups. In the present embodiment, an administrator operatesthe deletion screen (see FIG. 23 ) to select registered data(associations) to be deleted and then operate the deletion button.

When an administrator operates an administrator terminal 2, instructingthe system to delete the registered data of associations between faceauthentication machines 1 and matching groups, the face managementserver 5 performs a deletion operation for deleting the associationsbetween the face authentication machines 1 and the matching groups. Thedeletion operation involves deleting the data of the associationsbetween the face authentication machines 1 and the matching groupsdesignated by the administrator.

When the deletion operation is completed, the face management server 5causes the administrator terminal 2 to display an operation result onthe screen to indicate whether or not the deletion operation has beennormally completed. In addition, the face management server 5 records anadministrator access log.

Next, operations for registering, viewing, and deleting associationsbetween face matching servers 6 and matching groups in the presentsystem will be described. FIGS. 29A-B and 30 are explanatory diagramsshowing screens displayed on the administrator terminal 2 whenassociations between face matching servers 6 and matching groups are tobe registered, viewed, and deleted.

When one or more associations between face matching servers 6 andmatching groups are to be registered, viewed, updated, and deleted, anadministrator terminal 2 displays a view screen shown in FIG. 29A, aregistration screen shown in FIG. 29B, and a deletion screen shown inFIG. 30 , respectively.

The view screen shown in FIG. 29A displays a list of registeredassociations between face matching servers 6 and matching groups. Byviewing the view screen, an administrator can check the registeredassociations between face matching servers 6 and matching groups.

The view screen includes a list display section 121 and a face matchingserver designation section 122. The list display section 121 displaysmachine IDs of face matching servers, matching groups (numbers)associated with the respective face matching servers, and descriptionsabout the respective registered matching groups. The face matchingserver designation section 122 provides a pulldown menu to allow anadministrator to select a target face matching server 6 (machine ID).This allows the listed data records in the list display section 121 tobe narrowed down to include designated face matching servers; that is,only the matching groups associated with the designated face matchingservers are indicated in the list display section 121. When anadministrator does not select any face matching server 6 at the facematching server designation section 122, the list display section 121indicates data records of all the face matching servers 6.

An administrator can designate an item (machine ID, matching server 6,description) on the view screen to thereby perform a sort operation. Insome cases, the view screen may allow an administrator to designate thenumber of items displayed in the list display section 121 (the number offace matching servers 6) and the display range of the face matchingservers 6 and matching groups. Furthermore, the view screen may allow anadministrator to designate search conditions for respective items(machine ID, face matching server 6, description) to thereby perform asearch operation.

The registration screen (second screen) shown in FIG. 29B allows anadministrator to designate an association between a face matching server6 and a matching group.

The registration screen includes a face matching server designationsection 123, a matching group designation section 124, and aregistration button 125. The face matching server designation section123 provides a pulldown menu to allow an administrator to select atarget face matching server 6 (machine ID). The matching groupdesignation section 124 provides a pulldown menu to allow anadministrator to select a matching group of the target face matchingserver 6. The pulldown menu indicates registered matching groups whichhave been registered through the matching group registration screen (seeFIG. 15B).

When the administrator designates a combination of a face matchingserver and a matching group(s) and then operates the registration button125, the face management server 5 performs a registration operation forregistering the association in a database containing associations.

When a plurality of matching groups are assigned to one face matchingserver, an administrator can repeatedly operate on the registrationscreen to perform operations for registering associations between theface matching server and the respective matching groups. In some cases,the registration screen may include a plurality of matching groupdesignation sections 124.

The deletion screen shown in FIG. 30 allows an administrator to deletedata of one or more associations between face matching servers 6 andmatching groups.

The deletion screen includes a list display section 126, a face matchingserver designation section 127, and a deletion button 128. The listdisplay section 126 displays machine IDs of face matching servers 6,matching group IDs (numbers) associated with the face matching servers6, and the descriptions about matching groups. The list display section126 includes a check box for each association. This allows anadministrator to select one or more associations. When an administratormarks one or more checkboxes to select registered associations to bedeleted and then operates the deletion button 128, the face managementserver 5 performs a deletion operation for deleting data of the selectedregistered associations. The face matching server designation section127 provides a pulldown menu to allow an administrator to select a facematching server 6. This allows the listed data records in the listdisplay section 126 to be narrowed down to include a designated facematching server 6.

The view screen shown in FIG. 29A is displayed when an administratorselects “view” in the menu screen (not shown). The registration screenshown in FIG. 29B is displayed when an administrator selects“registration” in the menu screen (not shown). The deletion screen shownin FIG. 30 is displayed when an administrator selects “deletion” in themenu screen (not shown). In the view screen shown in FIG. 29A, when theadministrator selects a face matching server(s) 6 in the list displaysection 121, the screen transitions to the registration screen, whichallows the administrator to change the association between a facematching server 6 and a matching group.

Although, in the example of the deletion screen shown in FIG. 30 , theregistered associations are displayed in the form of a list, anindividual data edit screen (not shown) may be formed to allow anadministrator to delete an individual association in the screen.

Next, the operations for registering an association between a facematching server 6 and a matching group(s). FIG. 31 is a sequence diagramshowing an operation procedure of the operations for registering anassociation between a face matching server 6 and a matching group.

An administrator operates an administrator terminal 2 to open theregistration screen (see FIG. 29B). In the present embodiment, anadministrator selects “registration” in the menu screen (not shown).

When an administrator operates an administrator terminal 2 to open theregistration screen, a face management server 5 creates face matchingserver list information including a list of face matching servers 6,referring to the database containing data of registered machines. Theface management server 5 also creates matching group list informationincluding a list of matching groups, referring to the databasecontaining data of matching groups. Then, based on the face matchingserver list information and the matching group list information, theface management server 5 generates screen information for theregistration screen and causes the administrator terminal 2 to displaythe registration screen.

Next, the administrator operates the registration screen of theadministrator terminal 2, instructing the system to register anassociation between a face matching server 6 and a matching group. Inthe present embodiment, the administrator enters a combination of a facematching server 6 and a matching group on the registration screen (FIG.29B) and then operates the registration button 125.

When the administrator operates the administrator terminal 2,instructing the system to register the association between the facematching server 6 and the matching group, the face management server 5performs a registration operation for registering the associationbetween the face matching server 6 and the matching group. In theregistration operation, the face management server 5 registers theassociation (i.e., the combination of the face matching server 6 and thematching group) designated by the administrator in the database.

Furthermore, the face management server 5 transmits a request formatching group registration to the face matching server 6.

Upon receiving the request for matching group registration from the facemanagement server 5, the face matching server 6 performs a registrationoperation for registering the matching group. The registration operationregisters the designated matching group as setting information for theface matching server 6. Then, when the registration operation iscompleted, the face matching server 6 transmits a response to therequest for matching group registration to the face management server 5.

When the registration operations are completed, the face managementserver 5 causes the administrator terminal 2 to display an operationresult indicating whether or not the operations for registration havebeen normally completed on the screen. In addition, the face managementserver 5 records an administrator access log.

Next, operations for viewing associations between face matching servers6 and matching groups will be described. FIG. 32 is a sequence diagramshowing an operation procedure of operations for viewing associationsbetween face matching servers 6 and matching groups.

An administrator operates an administrator terminal 2, instructing thesystem to perform the operations for viewing associations between facematching servers 6 and matching groups. In the present embodiment, anadministrator operates the menu screen to open the view screen (see FIG.22A).

When the administrator operates the administrator terminal 2,instructing the system to perform the operations for viewingassociations between face matching servers 6 and matching groups forviewing, the face management server 5 performs a view operation forviewing associations between face matching servers 6 and matchinggroups. In the view operation, the face management server 5 creates alist of associations for all the face matching servers 6 and causes theadministrator terminal 2 to display the view screen. When anadministrator operates to narrow down the face matching servers 6 to beindicated on the view screen, the face management server 5 creates alist of associations for the selected face matching servers 6, causingthe administrator terminal 2 to display the view screen indicatingassociations that are narrowed down. When an administrator operates onthe view screen to select an item and instructs the system to perform asorting operation, the face management server 5 creates sorted listinformation including a sorted list of associations, causing theadministrator terminal to display the view screen based on the sortedlist information.

In addition, the face management server 5 records an administratoraccess log.

Next, the operations for deleting data of associations between facematching servers 6 and matching groups will be described. FIG. 33 is asequence diagram showing an operation procedure of operations for theoperations for deleting associations between face matching servers 6 andmatching groups. FIG. 34 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline ofthe operations for deleting associations between face matching servers 6and matching groups.

An administrator operates an administrator terminal 2, instructing thesystem to delete associations between face matching servers 6 andmatching groups. In the present embodiment, an administrator operatesthe deletion screen (see FIG. 30 ) to select registered data(associations) to be deleted and then operate the deletion button.

As shown FIG. 34 , when an administrator operates an administratorterminal 2, instructing the system to delete the registered data ofassociations between face matching servers 6 and matching groups, theface management server 5 performs a deletion operation for deleting theassociations between the face matching servers 6 and the matchinggroups. The deletion operation involves deleting the data of theassociations between the face matching servers 6 and the matching groupsdesignated by the administrator. The deletion operation further involvesdeleting face registration IDs related to the face matching server 6from the face information database.

In addition, the face management server 5 transmits a request formatching group deletion to the face matching server 6.

Upon receiving the request for matching group deletion from the facemanagement server 5, the face matching server 6 performs a deletionoperation for deleting the matching group. The deletion operationdeletes the designated matching group as setting information for theface matching server 6. Then, when the deletion operation is completed,the face matching server 6 transmits a response to the request formatching group deletion to the face management server 5.

When the deletion operations are completed, the face management server 5causes the administrator terminal 2 to display an operation resultindicating whether or not the operations for deletion have been normallycompleted on the screen. In addition, the face management server 5records an administrator access log.

Next, operations for registering, viewing, updating and deleting data ofusers will be described. FIGS. 35A-B and 36 are explanatory diagramsshowing screens displayed on the administrator terminal 2 when data of auser(s) is to be registered, viewed, updated, and deleted.

For the operations for registering, viewing, updating and deleting dataof matching groups, an administrator terminal 2 displays an individualdata edit screen shown in FIG. 35A, a search screen shown in FIG. 35B,and a list indication screen shown in FIG. 36 .

The individual data edit screen (second screen, third screen) shown inFIG. 35A is used for registering, viewing, updating, displaying, anddeleting user data.

The individual data edit screen includes a first and last name inputsection 131, a user code input section 132, a matching group inputsection 133, a permission group input section 134, an activation dateinput section 135, an invalidation date input section 136, an additionalinformation input section 137, a face image input section 138, and anexecution button 139.

The first and last name input section 131 allows an administrator toenter a user's first and last name. The user code input section 132allows an administrator to enter a user code or code number (such asemployee number). The matching group input section 133 allows anadministrator to designate a matching group(s). The matching group inputsection 133 displays the matching groups which have been registeredthrough the registration screen (see FIG. 15B) for registering matchinggroups. Checkboxes in the matching group input section 133 allow anadministrator to select one or more matching groups. The permissiongroup input section 134 allows an administrator to designate apermission group. Specifically, the permission group input section 134provides a pull-down menu to allow an administrator to select apermission group. The activation date input section 135 allows anadministrator to enter an activation date; that is, the date on whichface matching for the user was enabled. The invalidation date inputsection 136 allows an administrator to enter an invalidation date; thatis, the date on which face matching for the user was disabled. Thesetting of activation dates/invalidation dates for multiple usersenables the system to simultaneously start and end the services forthose users. The additional information input section 137 allows anadministrator to enter additional information.

The face image input section 138 includes a face image designationsection 141, a selection button 142, and a face image display section143. The face image designation section 141 allows an administrator todesignate a file of a shot image of a user. When an administratordesignates a file of the user's shot image which has been stored in theadministrator terminal 2, and then operates the selection button 142,the administrator terminal 2 transmits the user's shot image to the facematching server 6 via the face management server 5, where the facematching server 6 performs operations for generating a face image fromthe user's shot image (operations of face detection and face cut-out),and causes the administrator terminal 2 to display the user's face imageon the face image display section 143.

When the administrator enters data records of the respective items onthe registration screen and operates the execution button 139, the facemanagement server 5 performs the operations for registering user databased on the entered data records.

In this way, the registration screen allows an administrator to assign amatching group to a user, to thereby register an association between theuser and the matching group in the database. The registration screenalso allows an administrator to register the activation date and theinvalidation date. The activation date and the invalidation datedetermine the period during which a user's face information (facefeature amount data) is stored in a face matching server 6; that is, auser's face image data is registered in the database in the facematching server 6 on the activation date, and the data is deleted fromthe database on the invalidation date.

In addition, when an administrator operates the registration screen todesignate a user's shot image, the face image data of the user isregistered in the database in the face matching server 6.

The search screen shown in FIG. 35B allows an administrator to entersearch conditions for registered user data. Using the search screen,user data can be narrowed down to meet search conditions so that anarrowed down list of the user data is shown on the screen. The searchscreen includes a first and last name input section 131, a user codeinput section 132, a matching group input section 133, a permissiongroup input section 134, an activation date input section 135, aninvalidation date input section 136, an update date input section 144, anumber-of-result input section 145, and a search button 146.

The first and last name input section 131, the user code input section132, the matching group input section 133, the permission group inputsection 134, the activation date input section 135, the invalidationdate input section 136 are the same as those in the registration screen.The update date input section 144 allows an administrator to designatethe update date (period), and the number-of-result input section 145allows an administrator to designate the maximum number of searchresults to be retrieved.

When an administrator enters data records as necessary and operates thesearch button 146, the screen transitions to the list indication screen(FIG. 36 ) which reflects the search result.

The list indication screen shown in FIG. 36 is used to indicate a listof user data of registered users, and can be used to collectively updateand/or collectively delete user data.

By viewing the view screen, an administrator can check the registereduser data. The list indication screen includes a list display section147 and an execution button 148. The list display section 147 displaysuser codes, first and last names, and matching group of users. The listdisplay section 147 also includes a check box for each user, whichallows an administrator to select one or more registered users. When anadministrator marks one or more checkboxes to select users to be deletedand then operates the execution button 148 (deletion button), the facemanagement server 5 performs operations for deleting data of theselected users.

An administrator can designate an item (user code, first/last name,matching group) on the list indication screen to thereby perform a sortoperation (reordering). In some cases, the list indication screen may beformed to allow an administrator to designate the number to be indicated(the number of users to be indicated), the display range of the usercodes and matching groups shown in the list display section 147.Furthermore, the list indication screen may allow an administrator todesignate search conditions for respective items on the screen tothereby perform a search operation.

The individual data edit screen (see FIG. 35A) is used for registering,viewing, updating, displaying, and deleting data of a user.Specifically, when an administrator selects “registration” on the menuscreen (not shown), the administrator terminal 2 displays an individualdata edit screen blank form, which allows the administrator to enteruser data and newly register it. When an administrator operates the listindication screen (see FIG. 36 ) to select a user, the screentransitions to the individual data edit screen, which allows theadministrator to individually check data of a registered user(individual viewing), re-enter data of each item of a registered user asnecessary (individual updating), and delete data of each item of aregistered user as necessary (individual deleting).

Upon individual updating, when an administrator designates another shotimage of a user at the face image designation section 141, a matchingserver generates a new face image of the user from the new shot image tothereby replace the face image registered at the time of userregistration with the new face image.

The list indication screen (see FIG. 36 ) is used to indicate a list ofuser data of registered users, and allows an administrator tocollectively update and collectively delete user data. Specifically,when an administrator selects “list” on the menu screen (not shown), theadministrator terminal 2 displays the list indication screen (FIG. 36 ),which allows the administrator to check individual registered user data(individual viewing). The administrator can mark one or more checkboxesand then collectively delete user data as necessary (collectivedeleting). The screen may include additional checkboxes which allows anadministrator to select user data on a page-by-page basis in the list.

The search screen can be used to collectively update user data of aplurality of users (collective updating). In this case, an administratordesignates search conditions for target users or matching groups andoperates the search button 146, and in response, the administratorterminal displays a list indication screen (FIG. 36 ). Then, theadministrator operates the execution button 148 (collective updatebutton) in the list indication screen. Upon collective updating, userdata except user-specific data (such as users' first and last names anduser codes) can be updated.

When an administrator selects “search” in the menu screen (not shown),the administrator terminal 2 displays the search screen (see FIG. 35B).Then, when the administrator enters search conditions in the searchscreen and operates the search button 146, the screen transitions to thelist indication screen (see FIG. 36 ).

Next, the operations for registering user data will be described. FIG.37 is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedure of theoperations for registering data of a user. FIG. 38 is an explanatorydiagram showing an outline of the operations for registering data of auser.

An administrator operates an administrator terminal 2, instructing thesystem to register user data. In the present embodiment, anadministrator operates the individual data edit screen in theregistration mode (FIG. 35A) to enter user data of a user and designatea file of a shot image of the user, and then operates the registrationbutton.

As shown in FIG. 38 , when an administrator operates an administratorterminal 2, instructing the system to register user data, the facemanagement server 5 performs operations for registering user data of auser. In the operations for registration, the face management server 5transmits a request for face image extraction to the face matchingserver which belongs to the same matching group as the target user. Therequest includes a shot image of the user acquired from theadministrator terminal 2. When a plurality of face matching servers 6belong to the same matching group as the target user, the facemanagement server 5 selects one of the plurality of face matchingservers 6 and transmits the request for face image extraction to theselected face matching server 6.

Upon receiving the request for face image extraction from the facemanagement server 5, the face matching server 6 performs operations forface image extraction. The operations for face image extraction involveoperations of face detection and face cut-out on the user's shot imageacquired from the face management server 5 to thereby extract a faceimage of the user. Then, the face matching server 6 transmits a responseto the request for face image extraction to the face management server5. The response includes the face image of the user.

When receiving the response to the request for face image extractionfrom the face matching server 6, the face management server 5 transmitsa request for face registration to each face matching server 6 whichbelongs to the same matching group as the target user. The request mayinclude a user's face image acquired from one of the face matchingservers 6. When a plurality of face matching servers 6 belong to thesame matching group as the target user, the face management server 5transmits requests for face registration, each request including theuser's face image acquired from one of the face matching servers 6, toall the face matching servers 6 of the same matching group.

Upon receiving the request for face registration from the facemanagement server 5, a face matching server 6 performs operations forface registration. The operations for face registration involvegenerating face feature amount data from the extracted face image of theuser and registering the face feature amount data in the database. Uponface registration, the face matching server 6 assigns a faceregistration ID in association with the user's face feature amount tothe user, and then transmits a response to the request for faceregistration to the face management server 5. The response includes anoperation result indicating whether or not the operations for faceregistration have been normally completed, and the face registration ID.When the registration of the face feature amount data in the database iscompleted, the extracted face image of the user is deleted. The facefeature amount data may be backed up and saved in a non-volatile memorysuch as an HDD or SSD provided in the face matching server 6, thenon-volatile memory being separately handled from the face matchingdatabase in the face matching server 6.

When the face management server 5 receives the response to the requestfor face registration from the face matching server 6, the responseindicating that the operations for face registration have been normallycompleted, the face management server 5 performs a registrationoperation to register user data acquired from the administrator terminal2 in the face information database. The face management server 5 alsoregisters the face image acquired form a face matching server 6 in theface information database. The face management server 5 also registers aface registration ID issued by the face matching server 6 in the faceinformation database.

Next, the face management server 5 causes the administrator terminal 2to display an operation result on the screen to indicate whether or notthe operations for registering/updating user data have been normallycompleted. In addition, the face management server 5 records anadministrator access log.

Next, operations for collectively registering user data will bedescribed. FIG. 39 is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedureof operations for collectively registering data of users.

In the present embodiment, the system can register users' data using afile containing list information including a list of a plurality oftarget users.

Specifically, an administrator operates an administrator terminal 2,instructing the administrator terminal 2 to perform the operations forcollectively registering user data. In the present embodiment, anadministrator operates on the registration screen (not shown) to selecta file containing list information including a list of target users, andthen operates a registration button.

Then, the administrator terminal 2 reads the selected file containinglist information and displays the list information in the confirmationscreen. The administrator confirms the registered data shown in theconfirmation screen and then operates the screen, instructing tocollectively registering the user data. If necessary, the administratorcan modify the registered data shown in the confirmation screen.

When the administrator instructs the administrator terminal 2 to performthe operations for collectively registering user data, a face managementserver 5 starts the operations for collectively registering user data.The operations for collective registration involve repeatedly performingoperations for registering data of each user. The registrationoperations for each user are the same as those for registering user datashown in FIG. 37 (individual registration operations).

The face management server 5 receives responses to requests for faceregistration for all the target users and the operations for collectedregistration are completed. Upon the completion of the operations, theface management server 5 causes the administrator terminal 2 to displayan operation result indicating whether or not the collectiveregistration operations have been normally completed, on the screen.With regard to each user for which the server has failed to registeruser data, the face management server 5 reports the failure ofregistration to the administrator and prompts the administrator tore-register the user data. The face management server 5 outputs theregistration result as a log file.

Next, operations for viewing user data will be described. FIG. 40 is asequence diagram showing an operation procedure of operations forviewing data of users.

An administrator operates an administrator terminal 2, instructing thesystem to indicate a list of user data. In the present embodiment, anadministrator operates on the menu screen to open the list indicationscreen for viewing data of users (FIG. 36 ).

When an administrator instructs an administrator terminal 2 to indicatea list of user data, a face management server 5 creates list informationincluding a list of all users referring to the database containing userdata and, based on the list information, causes the administratorterminal to display the list indication screen (FIG. 36 ).

Moreover, the administrator can operate the administrator terminal 2,instructing the system to perform a search operation for searching userdata. Specifically, the administrator causes the administrator terminal2 to display the search screen (see FIG. 35B), operates the searchscreen to enter search conditions, and operates the search button.

When the administrator operates the administrator terminal 2,instructing the system to perform the search operation for searchinguser data, the face management server 5 creates list informationincluding a list of user data which meets the search conditionsreferring to the database, and causes the administrator terminal todisplay the list indication screen (FIG. 36 ) indicating a search resultbased on the list information.

Furthermore, the administrator can operate the administrator terminal 2,instructing the system to perform a sort operation for sorting the listof user data. Specifically, the administrator operates the administratorterminal 2 to designate an item in the list indication screen and theninstructs the system to perform the sort operation.

When the administrator operates the administrator terminal 2,instructing the system to perform the sort operation, the facemanagement server 5 creates user list information including a sortedlist of user data, and causes the administrator terminal 2 to displaythe list indication screen indicating the sorted list of user data basedon the user list information.

When the administrator operates the list indication screen (FIG. 36 ) toselect a user, and then instructs the system to perform an individualindication operation for indicating data of the selected user, the facemanagement server 5 acquires user data of the selected user referring tothe database, and causes the administrator terminal 2 to display theindividual data edit screen (see FIG. 35A).

Next, the operations for updating user data will be described. FIG. 41is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedure of the operationsfor updating data of a user. FIG. 42 is an explanatory diagram showingan outline of the operations for updating data of a user.

First, operations for changing a shot image of a user will be described.In this case, an administrator operates an administrator terminal 2,instructing the system to perform the operation for updating user data.In the present embodiment, an administrator operates the individual dataedit screen (not shown) in the update mode to re-enter data of a userand replace a file of a shot image of the user, and then operates theupdate button.

As shown in FIG. 42 , when an administrator operates an administratorterminal 2, instructing the system to perform the operation for updatinguser data, the face management server 5 performs operations for updatingdata of a user. In the update operations, the face management server 5transmits a request for face image extraction to the face matchingserver which belongs to the same matching group as the target user. Therequest includes a shot image of the user acquired from theadministrator terminal 2. When a plurality of face matching servers 6belong to the same matching group as the target user, the facemanagement server 5 selects one of the plurality of face matchingservers 6 and transmits the request for face image extraction to theselected face matching server 6.

Upon receiving the request for face image extraction from the facemanagement server 5, the face image extractor of the face matchingserver 6 performs operations for face image extraction. The operationsfor face image extraction involve operations of face detection and facecut-out on the user's shot image acquired from the face managementserver 5 to thereby extract a face image of the user. Then, the facematching server 6 transmits a response to the request for face imageextraction to the face management server 5. The response includes theface image of the user.

When receiving the response to the request for face image extractionfrom the face matching server 6, the face management server 5 transmitsa request for face registration to each face matching server 6 whichbelongs to the same matching group as the target user. The request mayinclude a user's face image acquired from one of the face matchingservers 6. When a plurality of face matching servers 6 belong to thesame matching group as the target user, the face management server 5transmits requests for face registration, each request including theuser's face image acquired from one of the face matching servers 6, toall the face matching servers 6 of the same matching group.

Upon receiving the request for face registration from the facemanagement server 5, a face matching server 6 performs operations forface registration. The operations for face registration involvegenerating face feature amount data from the extracted face image of theuser and registering the face feature amount data in the database. Uponface registration, the face matching server 6 generates a faceregistration ID associated with the face feature amount data of theuser, and then transmits a response to the request for face registrationto the face management server 5. The response includes an operationresult indicating whether or not the operations for face registrationhave been normally completed, and the face registration ID.

When the face management server 5 receive the response to the requestfor face registration from the face matching server 6, the responseindicating that the operations for face registration have beensuccessfully completed, the face management server 5 transmits a requestfor face feature amount deletion to the face matching server 6 whichbelongs to the same matching group as the target user. When the responseindicates that the face matching server 6 has unsuccessfully completethe operations for face registration, the face management server 5 doesnot make a request for face feature amount deletion to the face matchingserver 6 so that face matching is performed using the old face featureamount.

Upon receiving the request for face feature amount deletion from theface management server 5, the face matching server 6 performs a facefeature amount deletion operation. The face feature amount deletionoperation involves deleting the old face feature amount data of thetarget user from the database. Then, the face matching server 6transmits a response to the request for face feature amount deletion tothe face management server 5. The response includes an operation resultindicating whether or not the face feature amount deletion operation hasbeen normally completed.

Upon receiving the response to the request for face feature amountdeletion from the face matching server 6, the response indicating thatthe operations for face feature amount deletion has been normallycompleted, the face management server 5 performs an update operation toupdate use data. The update operation involves updating data in the faceinformation database with new user data acquired form the administratorterminal 2. The face management server 5 also registers a face imageacquired form a face matching server 6 in the face information database.Moreover, the face management server 5 registers a new face registrationID issued by the face matching server 6 in the face informationdatabase; that is, deletes the old face registration ID from thedatabase and registers the new face registration ID in place of the oldone.

Next, the face management server 5 causes the administrator terminal 2to display an operation result on the screen to indicate whether or notthe operations for updating user data have been normally completed. Inaddition, the face management server 5 records an administrator accesslog.

Next, operations for updating user data without changing a shot image ofa user (i.e., operations for making a change in items other than theshot image) will be described. In this case, an administrator operatesan administrator terminal 2, instructing the system to perform theoperation for updating user data. In the present embodiment, anadministrator operates the individual data edit screen (not shown) inthe in update mode to re-enter data of a user, and then operates theupdate button.

When an administrator operates an administrator terminal 2, instructingthe system to perform the operation for updating user data, the facemanagement server 5 performs operations for updating data of a user. Inthe update operations, the face management server 5 updates user data inthe face information database with the user data newly entered by theadministrator. Then, the face management server 5 causes theadministrator terminal 2 to display an operation result on the screen toindicate whether or not the operations of updating user data have beennormally completed. In addition, the face management server 5 records anadministrator access log.

Next, the operations for deleting user data will be described. FIG. 43is a sequence diagram showing an operation procedure of the operationsfor deleting data of a user. FIG. 44 is an explanatory diagram showingan outline of the operations of deleting data of a user.

An administrator operates an administrator terminal 2, instructing thesystem to perform the operation for deleting user data. In the presentembodiment, an administrator selects a target user, thereby causing theadministrator terminal 2 to display the individual data edit screen inthe deletion mode (not shown), and then operates the deletion button inthe screen. In some cases, the administrator selects a plurality oftarget users in the list indication screen in the deletion mode (notshown), and then operates a collective deletion button.

As shown in FIG. 44 , when an administrator operates an administratorterminal 2, instructing the system to perform the operations fordeleting user data, the face management server 5 starts operations fordeleting data of a user. In the deletion operations, the face managementserver 5 transmits a request for face deletion to the face matchingserver which belongs to the same matching group as the target user. Whena plurality of face matching servers 6 belong to the same matching groupas the target user, the face management server 5 transmits the requestfor face deletion to all the face matching servers 6 of the samematching group.

Upon receiving the request for face deletion from the face managementserver 5, a face matching server 6 performs operations for deleting theface data of the target user. The face deletion operations involvedeleting the user data (face feature amount data) of the user from thedatabase.

When the operations for deletion are completed, the face matching server6 transmits a response to the request for user data deletion to the facemanagement server 5. The response includes an operation resultindicating whether or not the operations for deletion have been normallycompleted.

When the face management server 5 receives the response to the requestfor face deletion from the face matching server 6, the responseindicating that the operations for face deletion have been normallycompleted, the face management server 5 performs a deletion operationfor deleting user data to delete the data of the target user in the faceinformation database. When the deletion operation is completed, the facemanagement server 5 causes the administrator terminal 2 to display anoperation result on the screen indicating whether or not the operationsfor deleting user data have been normally completed. In addition, theface management server 5 records an administrator access log.

Next, operations for face image extraction performed by a face matchingserver 6 will be described. FIG. 45 is an explanatory diagram showing anoutline of operations for extracting a face image.

A face management server 5 transmits a request for face image extractionto the face matching server 6. The request for face image extractionincludes data of a shot image of a user and face cut-out conditions(face image extraction conditions). The face cut-out conditions areparameters used in the operations for face image extraction (facedetection, face size check, face cut-out). More specifically, the facecut-out conditions includes the number of faces to be adopted when twoor more faces are detected, the face detection method (which is used asa basis for detecting a face, an area of a face frame or a height of aface frame), and respective higher and lower limits of the width and theheight of a face frame as references for face detection (face size checkthreshold values).

Upon receiving the request for face image extraction from the facemanagement server 5, the face image extractor 83 of the face matchingserver 6 performs operations for face image extraction; that is,operations for extracting a face image of a user. The operations forface image extraction involve operations for face detection, face sizecheck, and face cut-out. Then, the face matching server 6 transmits aresponse to the request for face image extraction to the face managementserver 5. The response includes an image data(s) and face frame positioninformation (coordinates of the upper left vertex, width and height ofeach face frame).

The face image extractor-83 of a face matching server 6 performs thesame operations as the face image extractor 22 of a face authenticationmachine. First, the face image extractor 83 detects a face region fromthe shot image (face detection). When the shot image includes aplurality of face regions, the face image extractor 83 selects some ofthe face regions based on an area and a width of each face region. Next,the face image extractor 83 determines whether or not each detected faceregion (face frame) meets predetermined conditions, or falls within anappropriate size range (face size check). Then, the face image extractor83 determines a cut-out region of an image captured by a camera 11 basedon the face region(s) (face frame(s)) detected by the face detectionoperation, and cuts out the determined cut-out region as a face image(face cut-out), thereby providing face image data.

Next, operations for checking image quality performed by a face matchingserver 6 will be described. FIG. 46 is an explanatory diagram showing anoutline of operations for checking image quality.

The image quality checker 82 of the face matching server 6 determineswhether or not the image of a face region (face frame) detected in thecaptured image data meets a predetermined quality level. Specifically,the image quality checker 82 detects whether or not a person in theimage wears a mask and whether or not the person wears sunglasses. Theimage quality checker 82 also calculates the degree of faceauthentication suitability from the image. The degree of faceauthentication suitability is an evaluation value based on faceorientation and facial expression of a person in the shot image.

In the operations for checking image quality, a face management server 5transmits a request for image quality check to the face matching server6. The request for image quality check includes shot image data and faceframe information.

Upon receiving the request for image quality check from the facemanagement server 5, the image quality checker 82 of the face matchingserver 6 determines whether or not the image of a face region (faceframe) in the captured image meets a predetermined quality level, andcalculates a quality evaluation value. Then, the face matching server 6transmits a response to the request for image quality check to the facemanagement server 5. The response includes the calculated qualityevaluation value.

Next, operations for face feature amount generation performed duringface registration will be described. FIG. 47 is an explanatory diagramshowing an outline of operations for generating a face feature amount.

The face feature amount generator 84 of a face matching server 6generates face feature amount data from the user's face image dataextracted in the earlier operations, and stores the face feature amountdata in the face matching DB.

In the operations for face feature amount generation, first, a facemanagement server 5 or a face authentication machine 1 transmits arequest for face feature amount generation to a face matching server 6.

Upon receiving the request for face feature amount generation from theface management server 5, the face feature amount generator 84 of theface matching server 6 generates face feature amount data from the imageof the face region extracted in the earlier operations. Then, the facematching server 6 transmits a response to the request for face featureamount generation to the face management server 5.

Next, face feature amount registration operations performed at the timeof face registration will be described. FIG. 48 is an explanatorydiagram showing an outline of operations for registering a face featureamount (face feature amount based registration). FIG. 49 is anexplanatory diagram showing an outline of operations for registering aface feature amount (image based registration).

The face matching server 6 has the functions of face image extractionand face feature amount generation, and performs respective operationsfor face image extraction and face feature amount generation in responseto a request from the face management server 5. When a plurality of facematching servers 6 belong to the same matching group of a user, facefeature amount data of the user needs to be registered in the facematching databases of all those face matching servers 6.

In some embodiments, after one of the face matching servers 6 performsthe operations of face image extraction and face feature amountgeneration, respectively, the face management server 5 can acquire thegenerated face feature amount and provide it to the remaining facematching servers 6, thereby registering face feature amount data of theuser in the face matching databases of all the face matching servers 6.In this case, first, the face management server 5 receives a response toa request for face feature amount generation from one of the facematching servers 6 to thereby acquire face feature amount data includedin the response, and then the face management server 5 adds the acquiredface feature amount data to a request for face feature amountregistration and transmits the request to each of the remaining facematching servers 6 (face feature amount based face feature amountregistration).

In other embodiments, after one of the face matching servers 6 performsthe operations of face image extraction, the face management server 5can acquire the extracted image data and provide it to the remainingface matching servers 6, whereby each face matching server 6 can performthe operations of face feature amount generation, thereby registeringface feature amount data of the user in the face matching databases ofall the face matching servers 6. In this case, first, the facemanagement server 5 receives a response to a request for face imageextraction from one of the face matching servers to thereby acquire faceimage data included in the response, and then the face management server5 adds the acquired face image data to a request for face feature amountregistration and transmits the request to each of the remaining facematching servers 6 (image based face feature amount registration).

As shown in FIG. 48 , in the case of face feature amount-based facefeature amount registration, the face management server 5 firsttransmits a request for face feature amount registration to a facematching server 6. This request includes the matching group, facefeature amount data, and user code of a user.

When receiving the face feature amount registration request from theface management server 5, the face feature amount manager 85 of the facematching server 6 registers the user's face feature amount data includedin the request in the face matching database. Upon face registration,the face feature amount manager 85 registers the face feature amountdata in the face matching database of a face matching unit which belongsto the same matching group as the user. The face matching server 6assigns a registrant code to a user whose face registration has beencompleted. The face matching server 6 registers the registrant code inassociation with the face feature amount in the face matching database.

When the operation for face feature amount registration is completed,the face matching server 6 transmits a response to the request to theface management server 5. The response includes an operation resultindicating whether or not the operation for face registration has beennormally completed, and the face registration ID (registrant code).

As shown in FIG. 49 , in the case of image-based face feature amountregistration, the face management server 5 first transmits a request forface feature amount registration to a face matching server 6. Thisrequest includes the matching group, face frame information, and usercode of a user.

When receiving the face feature amount registration request from theface management server 5, the face feature amount generator 84 of theface matching server 6 generates face feature amount data from theuser's face image data (shot image data and face frame information)included in the request, and the face feature amount manager 85registers the generated face feature amount data in the face matchingdatabase. Upon face registration, the face feature amount manager 85registers the face feature amount data in the face matching database ofa face matching unit which belongs to the same matching group as theuser. The face matching server 6 assigns a registrant code to a userwhose face registration has been completed. The face matching server 6registers the registrant code in association with the face featureamount in the face matching database.

Then, the face matching server 6 transmits a response to the request forface feature amount registration to the face management server 5. Theresponse includes an operation result indicating whether or not theoperations for face registration have been normally completed, and theface registration ID.

Next, operations for deleting a face feature amount performed in theoperations for updating and deleting user data will be described. FIG.50 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of operations fordeleting a face feature amount.

When user data is deleted, face feature amount data of a target user isdeleted from the face matching database of a face matching server 6.When user data is updated, the old face feature amount data of a targetuser is deleted from the face matching database of a face matchingserver 6. When face feature amount data of a user is deleted, the otheruser data of the user and data on an association between face featureamount data and the user are also deleted.

Specifically, first, a face management server 5 transmits a request forface feature amount deletion to a face matching server 6. The requestincludes a matching group and a face registration ID of a user.

When receiving the face feature amount deletion request from the facemanagement server 5, the face feature amount manager 85 of the facematching server 6 identifies the user based on the face registration IDincluded in the request, and deletes the face feature amount data of theuser from the face matching database. When the user belongs to aplurality of matching groups, the face feature amount manager 85performs a face feature amount deletion operation for each matchinggroup. In other words, the face feature amount manager 85 deletes thetarget user's face feature amount data from face matching databases ofthe respective matching groups.

When the face feature amount deletion operation is completed, the facematching server 6 transmits a response to the request for face featureamount deletion to the face management server 5. The response includesan operation result indicating whether or not the deletion operation hasbeen normally completed.

Next, operations for registering a face performed in the operations forregistering user data will be described. FIG. 51 is an explanatorydiagram showing an outline of operations for registering a face (facedata).

Upon registration of user data, first, a face management server 5transmits a request for face image extraction to a face matching server6, acquires face image data from the face matching server 6, andregisters it in the face information database. Then, the face managementserver 5 provides face image data to the face matching server 6 andcauses the face matching server 6 to perform the operations for faceregistration. In the operations for face registration, the face matchingserver 6 generates face feature amount data from face image dataacquired from the face management server 5 and registers the generatedface feature amount data in the face matching database.

Specifically, first, the face management server 5 transmits a requestfor face registration to a face matching server 6. The request includesthe user code, matching group, user registration ID of a user.

Upon receiving the face registration request from the face managementserver 5, the image quality checker 82 of the face matching server 6performs operations for checking image quality on the user's face imageincluded in the request. Next, the face feature amount generator 84generates face feature amount data from the user's face image data, andthen the face feature amount manager 85 registers the face featureamount data in a face matching database of the same matching group asthe user. Simultaneously, the face feature amount manager 85 stores theuser registration ID to be used in the face information database of theface management server 5 and the data of an association between the userregistration ID at the time of face feature amount registration and theuser's face feature amount data to be used in the face matching databaseof the face matching server 6. When the user registration ID of the userhas already been registered, the face feature amount manager 85 deletesthe old face feature amount data and registers the new face featureamount data in place of the ole one. The face feature amount manager 85also registers the user code of the user as user data in the facematching database.

Upon completion of the operations for registering face feature amountdata in the face matching databases for all the matching groups to whichthe user belongs, the face matching server 6 transmits a response to therequest for face registration to the face management server 5. Theresponse includes an operation result indicating whether or not theoperations for registration have been normally completed.

Next, operations of synchronizing face information performed by a facemanagement server 5 will be described. FIG. 52 is an explanatory diagramshowing an outline of operations for synchronizing face information.

The face information manager 66 of the face management server 5 performsthe operations for synchronization with the face matching server 6. Theoperations for synchronization bring the registered data in the faceinformation database of the face management server 5 in synchronizationwith the registered data in the face matching database of the facematching server 6. Specifically, the face information manager 66 bringsthe user data (face image data) registered in the face informationdatabase of the face management server 5 in synchronization with theusers' face feature amount data registered in the face matching databaseof the face matching server 6. In addition, the face information manager66 keeps the data of matching groups registered in the face managementserver 5 corresponding to that registered in the face matching server(s)6.

With regard to the timing of performing the operations forsynchronization, the face information manager 66 periodically performsthe operations for synchronization at a predetermined period of time. Inaddition, the face information manager 66 performs the operations forsynchronization when user data is registered, updated, and deleted. Theface information manager 66 also performs the operations forsynchronization when a matching group is deleted or when a face matchingserver 6 is started up.

With regard to the scope of user data on which the operations forsynchronization are performed, the operations for synchronization may beperformed on user data of all the users. In other cases, the operationsfor synchronization may be performed on user data of the designatedusers. The operations for synchronization may be performed on user dataupdated during a designated period of time.

In the present embodiment, the activation date and the validation datefor each user are registered as part of user data. An activation date isthe date on which face matching of a user is enabled. During anactivated period after this activation date, face authentication isperformed on the activated user and face authentication is available tothe user. An invalidation date is the date on which face matching isdisabled. During an invalidated period after the invalidation date, faceauthentication is not performed on the invalidated user and faceauthentication is no longer available to the user.

For all the users, the face information manager 66 of the facemanagement server 5 performs the operations to determine whether or noteach user is activated or invalidated, in order to determine time toperform the operations for synchronization. When face matching isactivated for a user and an activated period starts, the faceinformation manager 66 instructs a face matching server 6 to performoperations for registering face feature amount data of the user. Whenface matching is invalidated for a user and an invalidation periodstarts, the face information manager 66 instructs the face matchingserver 6 to perform the face deletion operations; that is, theoperations for deleting the face feature amount data of the user. As aresult, during any period before the activation date and any periodafter the invalidation date, no face information (face feature amountdata) of a user is stored in a face matching server 6.

A face management server 5 determines whether or not a certain operationhas been normally completed in a face matching server 6. Whendetermining that the operation fails in a face matching server 6 andneeds to be re-executed, the face management server 5 instructs the facematching server 6 to re-execute the operation. The operations on which aface management server 5 makes such determinations, include operationsfor face registration, face deletion, matching group registration, andmatching group deletion.

In addition, the face management server 5 records a synchronization log(history information on operations for synchronization).

Next, operations for copying face feature amount data will be described.FIGS. 53A-B are explanatory diagrams showing outlines of operations forcopying face feature amount data.

In the present embodiment, a face matching server 6 includes a facematching database for each matching group so that face feature amountdata of users can be managed separately for each matching group. Inaddition, the whole system includes a plurality of face matchingdatabases for one matching group in order to achieve the distribution ofthe computational load on face matching servers 6 and provide afail-safe against server failure. Thus, the system needs to registerface feature amount data of one user in a plurality of face matchingdatabases. However, as performing the operations of generating facefeature amount data from face image data of a user require a highcomputational load on a server, it is not efficient that a plurality offace matching servers 6 independently perform the same operations forface feature amount generation.

Thus, in the present embodiment, when face feature amount data of a userhas already been generated and registered in a face matching database,the face feature amount data can be copied from one face matchingdatabase to another face matching database. In other words, face featureamount data registered in a face matching database can be used toregister the face feature amount data in a different face matchingdatabase.

The face information manager 66 of the face management server 5 managesface feature amount data of each user in the face matching databasebased on data in the face information database, and when face image dataof a user is changed, the face information manager 66 instructs amatching server(s) to copy the face feature amount data between the twoface matching databases (transfer instruction).

When there is a change in data of an individual(s), the face informationmanager 66 copies the face feature amount data of each individual(individual copy) as shown in FIG. 53A. For example, when a user isnewly registered or updated, the face information manager 66 copies theface feature amount data in each individual. To give another example, inorder to improve the accuracy of face matching for a certain user,additional face feature amount data may be generated from data of adifferent face image so that a plurality of face feature amount datasets are register for the same user. In this case, the face informationmanager 66 copies the individual face feature amount data only for aspecific user.

When there is a change in data for all users of a matching group(s), theface information manager 66 copies the face feature amount data of userson a matching group basis (group copy) as shown in FIG. 53B. Forexample, when a matching group is newly registered, the face informationmanager 66 collectively copies face feature amount data in a facematching database in which the face feature amount data is originallyregistered, to the second and subsequent face matching databases so thateach of these databases includes the same face feature amount data. Togive another example, when the system includes a plurality of facematching databases each containing the same data in order to achieveload distribution and redundancy of data, the face information manager66 copies face feature amount data of users on a matching group basis.

Next, operations for face authentication performed by the system will bedescribed. FIG. 54 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline ofoperations for face authentication.

A face authentication machine 1 detects a person's face from an imagecaptured by the camera 11 to acquire a face image, and then transmits arequest for face matching to a face matching server 6. The requestincludes the machine ID of the face authentication machine 1, thematching group to which the face authentication machine 1 belongs, dataof a shot image of a target person (a person to be verified through faceauthentication), face frame information, and matching conditions.

In the face matching server 6, the face feature amount generator 84generates face feature amount data of the target person from theperson's face image acquired from the face authentication machine 1.Next, the face feature amount matcher 86 of a face matching unit for thematching group of the face authentication machine 1 compares the facefeature amount data of the target person with face feature amount dataof registered users in the face authentication database for matching. Aface authentication process which belongs to the matching group of theface authentication machine 1 performs the operation for face matching.When the face matching is completed, the face matching server 6transmits a response to the request for face matching to theauthentication machine 1 which is the source of the request. Theresponse to the request includes a matching result (success, failure), amatching score, and a user code.

The face feature amount matcher 86 calculates a matching scoreindicating the degree of similarity between the target person and aregistered user. When the matching score is equal to or greater than apredetermined reference value, the face feature amount matcher 86determines that the target person is the registered user, and generatesa matching result indicating a success in face matching/recognition.When the matching scores against all registered users do not exceed thereference value, the face feature amount matcher 86 determines that thetarget person is not a registered user, and generates a matching resultindicating a failure in face matching/recognition.

The face authentication machine 1 may add to a request for matching, acondition for face matching (face matching parameter) to be performed bya face matching server 6. This allows the face authentication machine todetermine what operations for face matching are to be performed by theface matching server 6. For example, the face authentication machine 1may designate a predetermined threshold value for the matching score asa condition for face matching, causing the face matching server 6 togenerate a response including matching results for which matching scoresare equal to or greater than the threshold value. To give anotherexample, the face authentication machine 1 may designate the number ofmatching results as a condition for face matching, causing the facematching server 6 to generate a response including the designated numberof matching results in order from the highest matching score.

When the operations for face matching are completed, the authenticationlog manager 87 of the face matching server 6 stores a face matchingresult(s) and other information in the database as an authentication log(history information record of face authentication). The authenticationlog manager 87 may store only a face authentication result (success,failure) as an authentication log, or may add matching scores to theauthentication log. The authentication log manager 87 may add the faceimage of a target person acquired from the face authentication machine 1to the authentication log. In this case, the authentication log manager87 preferably encrypts the face image data of a person before storingit.

When the face feature amount matcher 86 generates a large number ofmatching results with matching scores that exceed the threshold value,the authentication log manager 87 may narrow down the matching resultsto a predetermined number of matching results in order from the highestmatching score and then stores them as an authentication log. When theoperations for face matching are not normally completed, or the facefeature amount matcher 86 generates no matching result with the matchingscore which is greater than the threshold value, the authentication logmanager 87 may store only information included in the request from theface authentication machine 1 as an authentication log.

FIG. 55 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of operations forviewing authentication logs.

In response to a request from an administrator terminal 2 via a facemanagement server 5, a face matching server 6 transmits theauthentication logs (face recognition history information records)stored in the face matching server 6 to the administrator terminal 2,thereby enabling an administrator to view the authentication loginformation on the administrator terminal 2. In the operations forviewing the authentication log, the administrator can designate acondition in order to view only the authentication log records that meetto the designated condition.

Specifically, the administrator terminal 2 displays a screen for entryof search conditions for searching the authentication log so that theadministrator can operate the screen to designate a search condition(s)such as a specific face authentication machine 1 as a source of requestsfor face authentication, a specific user, the number of search result tobe retrieved, a time when face authentication was performed (searchperiod), and a matching result (success or failure).

When the administrator operates the administrator terminal 2 to entersearch conditions and provide instructions to search the authenticationlog, the authentication log presenter 69 of the face management server 5transmits a request for viewing the authentication log to the facematching server 6. The request for viewing includes the searchconditions designated by the administrator. Then, based on the data ofassociations between the face authentication machines 1 and the matchinggroups, the data of associations between the face matching servers 6 andthe matching groups, and the user data, the authentication log presenter69 identifies the target face authentication machine 1 or the facematching server(s) 6 of the same matching group as a user, and transmitsa request(s) for viewing authentication log to the face matchingserver(s) 6. In addition, the face management server 5 records anadministrator access log.

When receiving the request for viewing authentication log from the facemanagement server 5, the face matching server 6 searches theauthentication log based on the search conditions included in therequest, generates a list of authentication logs which meet the searchconditions as the search result, adds the generated list to a responseto the request for viewing authentication log, and transmits theresponse to the face management server 5. The face matching server 6 maytransmit a face image of a target person as an authentication log to theface management server 5. In this case, since a face image of a personis encrypted, the face matching server 6 decrypts the face image beforeadding it to the response.

Upon receiving the response to the request for viewing authenticationlog from the face matching server 6, based on the list of authenticationlogs included in the response, the face management server 5 causes theadministrator terminal 2 to display the search result screen indicatingthe list of authentication logs which meet the search conditionsdesignated by the administrator. In addition, the face management server5 further retrieves only the authentication logs which meet such searchconditions that cannot be used by the face matching server 6 fornarrowing down the authentication logs, and generates a list ofauthentication logs which have been further narrowed down.

When a list of authentication logs is generated, an administrator canoperate the administrator terminal 2 to designate items and provideinstructions to sort a list of the authentication logs. When anadministrator performs this operation, the face management server 5sorts the list of authentication logs by the designated items togenerate a sorted list of authentication logs. In addition, anadministrator can operate the administrator terminal 2 to designate thenumber of authentication logs to be retrieved. When the administratorperforms this operation, the face matching server 6 retrieves thedesignated number of authentication logs and generates a list ofauthentication logs. Moreover, an administrator can operate theadministrator terminal 2 to designate a search period. When theadministrator performs this operation, the face matching server 6retrieves the authentication logs included in the designated period, andgenerates a list of authentication logs.

FIG. 56 is an explanatory diagram showing an authentication log viewscreen displayed on an administrator terminal 2.

The administrator terminal 2 displays the authentication log viewscreen. The authentication log view screen includes a search conditiondesignation section 151 and a search result display section 152.

An administrator can operate the search condition designation section151 to enter search conditions at respective item fields; that is,fields of machine ID of the face authentication machine 1, user code,the number of search results to be retrieved, matching date and time,matching result. The field of matching date and time allows anadministrator to designate the period (start and end points of time).The filed of matching result provides a pull-down menu which allows anadministrator to select any of success, failure, and success andfailure. When an administrator designate search conditions forrespective fields in the search condition designation section 151 andthen operates the search button 153, a face matching server 6 executes asearch operation for searching for authentication log records which meetthe search conditions, and the search result display section 152displays a search result.

The search result display section 152 displays, as a search result, alist of retrieved record sets of date and time, matching result(success, failure), and face image. For a success result, the item offace image indicates the face image of a person to be verified throughface authentication acquired from the face authentication machine 1 andthe face image of a registered user. For a failure result, the item offace image indicates only a face image of a person to be verifiedthrough face authentication. This allows an administrator to checkauthentication log records for the designated face authenticationmachine 1 and user, and to check authentication log records which havebeen narrowed down by the matching date and time and the matchingresult.

An administrator can designate an item (user code, first/last name,matching group) in the search result display section 152 to therebyperform a sort operation (reordering the results). An administrator canoperate the save button 154 to store the authentication log recordsdisplayed in the search result display section 152 in a prescribedformat. This allows the administrator to check authentication logrecords for the designated face authentication machine 1 and user inchronological order.

Next, dynamic data linking from a face authentication machine toexternal applications will be described. FIG. 57 is an explanatorydiagram showing an outline of dynamic data linking from a faceauthentication machine to external applications.

A face authentication machine 1 supports dynamic data linking toexternal applications; that is, a face authentication machine can notifya management server 8 (management device) of an external system of aface authentication result acquired from a face matching server 6. Theexternal system utilizes face authentication results acquired from thepresent system to provide various services to users. For example, theexternal system may be an entry/exit management system which performscontrols to unlock the door when a face authentication result issuccess. The external system may be a payment system which performs apayment operation when a face authentication result is success.

A face authentication machine 1 includes an authentication resultadjuster 25 (connection application), and notifies a face authenticationresult to the management server 8 of the external system via theauthentication result adjuster 25. The face authentication machine 1notifies the authentication result adjuster 25 of a face authenticationresult (success, failure) via a named pipe (inter-processcommunication). The authentication result adjuster 25 notifies themanagement server 8 of the external system of a face authenticationresult via the network using a predetermined protocol (WebSocket). Theauthentication result adjuster 25 may perform necessary operations suchas modification or addition of information records according to howauthentication results are used in the external system.

The face matching requester 23 of a face authentication machine 1transmits a request for face matching to a face matching server 6. Uponreceiving a response to the request for face matching from the facematching server 6, the face matching requester 23 writes a faceauthentication result (authentication success, authentication failure)included in the response in a named pipe and notifies the connectionapplication of the face authentication result. When notifying a faceauthentication result, the face authentication machine 1 acquires the IDof a person to be verified and the ID of a camera 11 as theauthentication result, and adds the IDs to a face authentication resultnotification. Specifically, for a success result, the faceauthentication machine 1 writes the user code of a user and the machineID of the face authentication machine 1 (camera 11) in the named pipe.For a failure result, the face authentication machine 1 writes only theauthentication result (authentication failure) to the named pipe.

The authentication result adjuster 25 of a face authentication machine 1inhibits notification of authentication results so as to prevent theface authentication machine 1 from repeating notification of the sameface authentication result to the external system. In the presentembodiment, when a face authentication machine 1 notifies the connectionapplication of a face authentication result, the authentication resultadjuster 25 sets a notification inhibit time to thereby temporally andautomatically stop the face authentication machine 1 notifying the sameface authentication result within the notification inhibit time.

When a face authentication machine 1 notifies a face authenticationsuccess result for a certain person, the authentication result adjuster25 inhibits notification of face authentication success results for theperson within a predetermined time (authentication success notificationinhibit time) from the first notification of authentication success.When a face authentication machine 1 notifies a face authenticationfailure result for a certain person, the authentication result adjuster25 inhibits notification of authentication failure results for theperson within a predetermined time (authentication failure notificationinhibit time) from the first notification of authentication failure.

The individual notification inhibit times are set depending on theauthentication results (authentication success, authentication failure)and the persons to be verified; that is, different notification inhibittimes for the same person are set for the different authenticationresults, and different notification inhibit times for the sameauthentication result are set for the different persons to be verified.Therefore, within an authentication failure notification inhibit for aperson, the face authentication machine 1 can notify an external systemof a face authentication success result for the person, whereas, withinan authentication success notification inhibit for a person, the faceauthentication machine 1 can notify an external system of a faceauthentication failure result for the person. Within an authenticationfailure notification inhibit for a person, the face authenticationmachine 1 can notify an external system of a face authentication failureresult for a different person, whereas, within an authentication successnotification inhibit for a person, the face authentication machine 1 cannotify an external system of a face authentication success result for adifferent person.

Next, monitoring the operation statuses of the present system will bedescribed. FIG. 58 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline ofmonitoring the operation statuses of the present system.

A face authentication machine 1 includes an operation status monitor 26.The operation status monitor 26 monitors the operation status of theface authentication machine 1, and periodically notifies a facemanagement server 5 (monitoring server) of the operation status (failureor non-failure status) at a predetermined period of time. A facematching server 6 includes an operation status monitor 89. The operationstatus monitor 89 monitors the operation status of the face matchingserver 6, and periodically notifies the face management server 5(monitoring server) of the operation status (failure or non-failurestatus) at a predetermined period of time.

A face management server 5 includes an operation status monitor 68. Theoperation status monitor 68 monitors the operation status of the facemanagement server 5, and periodically records the operation status(failure or non-failure status) therein at a predetermined period oftime. The face management server 5 also records the operation statusnotified from a face authentication machine 1 and a face matching server6 therein.

Information records of an operation status to be notified include themachine ID, time of acquiring record, failure or non-failure status,program version information, and other records.

An administrator terminal 2 can check the operation statuses bytransmitting a request for operation status view to a face managementserver 5.

Next, operations for updating databases upon upgrade of a program in aface matching server 6 will be described.

In a face matching server 6, programs for face feature amount generationand face matching are upgraded (updated) as appropriate in order toimprove the accuracy of face matching. Generally, face feature amountdata depends on the algorithms of face feature amount generation andface matching. Thus, changes in the algorithms result in changes in facefeature amount data, thereby necessitating regeneration of face featureamount data.

Thus, in the present embodiment, when a program related to face featureamount generation or face matching algorithm is upgraded, the facefeature amount data registered in a face matching database is updated soas to be adapted to the upgraded program. Specifically, a face matchingserver 6 deletes the face feature amount data already stored therein,regenerates face feature amount data based on the face image data at thetime of user registration, and stores the regenerated face featureamount data in the face matching server 6.

Specifically, when detecting an upgrade of a face matching program, theface management server 5 uses its operation status notification functionto transmit a request for updating face feature amount data to a facematching server 6. The request includes face images of users. Uponreceiving the request for updating face feature amount data, the facefeature amount manager 85 of the face matching server 6 causes the facefeature amount generator 84 to perform the operations for generatingface feature amount data from the users' face images, and registers thenew face feature amount data in the face matching database.

When a plurality of face matching servers 6 have the same face matchingprocess and the same face matching database; that is, when the pluralityof face matching servers 6 include the respective face matchingdatabases containing the same registered face feature amount data, andthe respective face matching processes used for matching operations forthe same face authentication machine 1 of the same matching group, oneof the face matching servers 6 regenerates face feature amount data andregisters the regenerated face feature amount data in the face matchingdatabase, and then a face management server 5 copies the regeneratedface feature amount data registered in the face matching database todifferent face matching servers 6 so that the different face matchingdatabases of the respective face matching servers 6 contain the sameregistered face feature amount data.

In this case, the face management server 5 instructs a new face matchingserver 6 to store copied data, and transfers the face feature amountdata stored in the source face matching server 6 to the new facematching server 6.

Next, the operations for backup and restoration of data will bedescribed.

In the present embodiment, databases and files stored in a facemanagement server 5 and a face matching server 6 can be backed up andrestored.

Among the data stored in a face management server 5, backup target data(data to be backed up) includes a user information (face information)database, face image files, a matching group information database, adatabase of associations between face authentication machines andmatching groups, a database of associations between matching servers andmatching groups, and an administrator access log file.

Among the data stored in a face matching server 6, backup target dataincludes a database of authentication log records, and files of faceimages.

FIG. 59 is an explanatory diagram showing a backup screen and arestoration screen displayed on the administrator terminal 2. The screencan be switched between the backup screen and the restore screen byclicking tabs.

As shown in FIG. 59A, the backup screen includes a backup destinationdesignation section 161, a backup target designation section 162, aprogress indication section 163, and an execute button 164. The backupdestination designation section 161 allows an administrator to designatea backup destination. The backup target designation section 162 allowsan administrator to select a face management server 5 and a facematching server 6 as backup operation target devices. An administratoroperates the execute button 164 to start the backup operation. Theprogress indication section 163 indicates a list of data items to bebacked up. For each item to be backed up, a check mark is indicated uponcompletion of the data backup so that the administrator can recognizethe progress of the backup operation.

The backup target data (data to be backed up) includes a userinformation (face information) database, face image files of registeredusers, a matching group information database, a database of associationsbetween face authentication machines and matching groups, a database ofassociations between matching servers and matching groups, anadministrator access log file, an authentication log database, and faceimage files of persons to be verified through face authentication.

As shown in FIG. 59B, the restore screen includes a restore destinationdesignation section 165, a restore target designation section 166, aprogress indication section 167, and an execute button 168 in a similarmanner to the backup screen. The restore destination designation section165 allows an administrator to designate a restore destination. Therestore target designation section 166 allows an administrator to selecta face management server 5 and a face matching server 6 as restoretarget devices. An administrator operates the execute button 168 tostart the restore operation. The progress indication section 167indicates a list of data items to be restored. For each item to berestored, a check mark is indicated upon completion of the data restoreso that the administrator can recognize the progress of the restoreoperation.

Next, a variation of the above-described embodiment will be described.FIG. 60 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of operations forface image extraction according to a variation of the presentembodiment.

In n the above-described embodiment (see FIG. 12 ), a faceauthentication machine 1 and a face matching server 6 perform theoperations for face image extraction to generate a face image from ashot image data of a user. In the variation of the embodiment, a faceauthentication machine 1 and a face management server 5 perform theoperations for face image extraction and a face matching server 6 doesnot perform the operations for face image extraction. Specifically, inthe variation of the embodiment, the face matching server 6 does notinclude the face image extractor 83 in the above-described embodiment,and the face management server 5 includes a face image extractor 201.

At the time of user registration, an administrator terminal 2 transmitsa shot image data of a user to a face management server 5, and then theface image extractor 201 of the face management server 5 performs theoperations for face image extraction. At the time of faceauthentication, the face image extractor 22 in the face authenticationmachine 1 in the same manner as the above-described embodiment.

While specific embodiments of the present invention are described hereinfor illustrative purposes, the present invention is not limited to thespecific embodiments. It will be understood that various changes,substitutions, additions, and omissions may be made for elements of theembodiments without departing from the scope of the invention. Inaddition, elements and features of the different embodiments may becombined with each other as appropriate to yield an embodiment which iswithin the scope of the present invention.

In recent years, in the technical filed of IoT (Internet of Things), CPS(Cyber Physical System), which is a new technical concept for creatingnew added value by a higher combination and coordination betweeninformation in the physical space and that in the cyberspace, has beendrawing attention. The concept of CPS can be adopted in the presentembodiment. Specifically, as a basic configuration of CPS, a system maybe configured to include, for example, an edge device provided inphysical space and a cloud server provided in cyberspace, which areconnected to each other via a network and which can achieve thedistributed processing by using the respective processors whenperforming a face authentication process. Specifically, a camera of aface authentication machine, i.e., an edge device, is used to acquireface image data of a user. Then, upon receiving the face image data fromthe edge device via a network, a cloud server generates face featureamount data from the received face image data, and compares thegenerated face feature amount data with registered face feature amountdata of users for matching to perform a face authentication process ofthe user, to thereby generate a face authentication result. A faceauthentication application uses the generated face authentication resultto display the result on a display screen in a certain format defined bythe application. When an edge device and a cloud server generate data,Web application software on a standardized platform is preferably used.By using such a standardized platform, a system including various typeof sensors and IoT applications can be built in an efficient manner.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

A system and a method for face authentication according to the presentinvention achieve an effect of enabling the system for faceauthentication to operate separately for individual providers of faceauthentication service in a stable and sufficient manner, and are usefulas a system for face authentication and a method for face authenticationused for performing a face authentication process based on image data ofa person to be verified.

Glossary

-   1 face authentication machine-   2 administrator terminal (terminal device, face authentication    administrator's device)-   3 face authentication server (server device)-   5 face management server (face image manager)-   6 face matching server (face image matcher)

What is claimed is:
 1. A face authentication machine for imaging aperson to be verified and sequentially outputting a face authenticationresult for the person, the face authentication machine comprising: acamera for imaging the person to be verified; a communication device forcommunicating with one or more face matching devices and a managementdevice that are external to the face authentication machine, via anetwork; a storage for storing setting information as to a process ofmaking a request for face matching, and matching group information as toone or more request targets to which the face authentication machine cantransmit the request for face matching; an outputting device foroutputting the face authentication result for the person to be verified;and a control device for controlling each of the camera, thecommunication device, the storage, and the outputting device, whereinthe control device is configured to perform a start-up operation whenthe face authentication machine starts up, the start-up operationincluding acquiring the matching group information from the managementdevice and storing the acquired matching group information in thestorage, and wherein, when a face authentication is performed and aplurality of face matching devices is identified as request targetsbased on the matching group information, after adding face image data ofthe person to be verified that is acquired by the camera to the requestfor face matching, the control device: transmits the request for facematching to the identified plurality of face matching devices, therebycausing each face matching device to perform a face data generationoperation for generating face feature amount data from the received faceimage data of the person to be verified and to perform a matchingoperation between the face feature amount data of the person to beverified and face feature amount data of pre-registered persons; andacquires a face matching result, which is a result of the matchingoperation, from each face matching device.
 2. The face authenticationmachine according to claim 1, wherein, when the matching groupinformation includes information on a plurality of matching groups andthe process of making the request is a simultaneous request process, thecontrol device simultaneously transmits the request for face matching toall face matching devises associated with each of the plurality matchinggroups.
 3. The face authentication machine according to claim 1,wherein, when the process of making the request is a sequential requestprocess, the control device sequentially selects request targets one byone, the request targets being face matching devices which belong to asame matching group as one associated with the face authenticationmachine.
 4. The face authentication machine according to claim 1,wherein the process of making the request is a random request process,the control device randomly selects request targets one by one, therequest targets being face matching devices which belong to a samematching group as one associated with the face authentication machine.5. A face authentication method which involves imaging a person to beverified and sequentially outputting a face authentication result of theperson, wherein the face authentication method is performed by aprocessor of a face authentication machine that is connected to one ormore face matching devices and a management device via a network, andthat is provided with a storage and a camera, wherein the processor ofthe face authentication machine performs: a start-up operation when theface authentication machine starts up, the start-up operation includingacquiring matching group information from the management device andstoring the acquired matching group information in the storage, and anoperation to image the person to be verified with the camera whenperforming a face authentication, wherein, when a plurality of facematching devices is identified as request targets based on the matchinggroup information, after adding face image data of the person to beverified that is acquired by the camera to the request for facematching, the processor: transmits the request for face matching to theidentified plurality of face matching devices, thereby causing each facematching device to perform a face data generation operation forgenerating face feature amount data from the received face image data ofthe person to be verified and to perform a matching operation betweenthe face feature amount data of the person to be verified and facefeature amount data of pre-registered persons; and acquires a facematching result, which is a result of the matching operation, from eachface matching device.